A two-day summit in New Brunswick, New Jersey this May will mark the official launch of the Avoca Quality Consortium, a US-based initiative that brings together quality, outsourcing and operational professionals from pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies as well as contract research organisations to accelerate development of a best-practice approach to quality management and CRO oversight.
The inaugural Quality Summit on 1-2 May 2012 is being organised by The Avoca Group, which provides survey research, consulting services and training to healthcare clients in areas such as clinical outsourcing, business development and strategic alliances. Corporate sponsorship comes from Eli Lilly, Pfizer and PharmaNet/i3.
Sponsored by Eli Lilly and Pfizer, the Avoca Quality Consortium was formed last December with the long-term goal of developing a new paradigm in industry’s approaches to quality management and partnering with CROs, so as to ensure high quality standards and risk mitigation.
Improving outcomes
As Patricia Leuchten, president and chief executive officer of The Avoca Group, pointed out at the time, the Group’s 2011 Report on Quality and CRO Oversight had identified opportunities in the dynamic between clinical-trial sponsors and CROs to improve outcomes through collaboration on quality management and metrics.
The Quality Summit in May will focus on “operationalising best practices in proactive quality management”, Avoca noted.
“This groundbreaking meeting will serve as a platform to present the results of Avoca’s research and analysis in quality management practices and to provide the executive leadership from sponsors and CROs the opportunity to discuss and, collectively, make decisions regarding best practices,” Leuchten commented.
