Pharmaceutical companyAstraZenecahas signed a £47m
five-yearoutsourcing
contractwithCognizantto provide centralised data
management services for its global clinical development
programmes.
AstraZeneca announced last year that it would be centralising
data management services as part of its plan to improve the
efficiency of its research and development programmes.
Cognizant, which works for 27 of the top 30 global
pharmaceuticals companies, has been given the task of standardising
AstraZeneca's processes and improving consistency of delivery and
economies of scale.
Anders Ekblom, vice-president of clinical development at
AstraZeneca, said, "Delivering efficiencies through reshaping our
business process is one of our key strategic priorities."
The contract with Cognizant extends an existing relationship
with AstraZeneca, which engaged the outsourcing company in 2004 to
provide other business process and technology services to its
operations in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.
