Reimagining FSP with ProPharma’s RCO Model
Functional Service Providers (FSPs) evolved from the landscape of full-service and business-process outsourcing (FSO and BPO) solutions to meet the growing desire of biopharma to outsource clinical operations functions in their entirety. The viability of FSP as a scalable solution to nimbly adapt and navigate the challenges posed by the rapid onset of regulatory changes, economic headwinds, and other black swans (e.g., the COVID-19 pandemic) has only become more apparent in recent years. FSPs have taken center stage as an essential vehicle to de-risk unexpected delays in full-service awards.
However, traditional FSP partnerships have had constraints in both context and capability. Indeed, FSPs within large CROs were primarily conceived as a necessary vehicle to fend off advances from low-cost Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firms in the 1990s (e.g., Accenture, Cognizant). BPOs had introduced pharmaceutical companies to the potential value of outsourcing high-volume, transactional services like call centers and safety case processing, which early FSP models sought to emulate; however, it was rare for these models to generate much traction from an industry dominated by full-service mindsets.
By the 2010s, sponsor priorities shifted and FSP shops established themselves as THE solution to the core/non-core question pharmaceutical companies were looking to answer across product development operations. Sponsors were looking to discern and retain those activities that drove a competitive advantage and potentially outsource the rest (e.g. the “bookends” of a drug’s development – on the one end sponsors will continue focusing on increasing the volume of NME’s [new molecular entities] entering the pipeline, and at the other, post-approval commercialization).
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