Flexibility to Change is the Key to Successful Pharma Projects

Carrie Lewis has been a strong presence in the pharmaceutical industry for the last 20 years. Her career began as a study coordinator in academia. Then, she became a research assistant, clinical research associate, and clinical trial manager, predominantly in pharma. Carrie is currently the executive director of clinical program optimization, where she oversees clinical operations, business operations, eTMF/Inspection Readiness, and training and oversight.

In an interview with Cannabis Business Insights, Carrie highlights the prominent challenges and technological trends impacting the pharmaceutical industry. She shares insights on the importance of innovation and change to improve pharma processes.

What are the prominent challenges and technological trends impacting the pharmaceutical space?

The decrease in clinical research sites’ capacity is one of the prominent challenges. It has been found that the resource capacity of many sites has dropped to 60 percent. We began internal discussions to tackle this and found that the best way to become true partners to our sites is to work according to their capacity. To build strong partnerships pharma companies must actively communicate with sites, genuinely understand their needs, and remain flexible to support sites with their needs and budgets.

According to you, what are some of the successful leadership strategies for a successful pharmaceutical project?

Sometimes, the best strategies can be simple leadership qualities such as open communication, flexibility, and open-mindedness. Equally important is being open to change. As we all know, projects rarely go exactly as planned, so being open to change is crucial. The world keeps changing, and so does the industry. Leaders should constantly revamp their legacy processes and inspire their teams to reinvent how they work.

Can you talk about any similar initiatives that you led at your organization?

Our team has been discussing a lot recently the importance of helping people develop their critical thinking skills. This was also a topic at the Drug Information Association (DIA) meeting in 2023. Even though we are equipped with technology and tools for almost everything, there will always be situations where we need to look at the bigger picture of a problem by digging deeper to bring an appropriate solution. We need to ask ourselves the why and why not questions to keep making things better.

How do you envision the future of the pharma space?

I hope the industry keeps welcoming change. Even when discussing leveraging technology, the pharma industry adapts relatively slower than other industries. One way to constantly transform is by bringing new people to the domain. Fresh points of view can help us embrace change as we need to be constantly learning new things.

I have been fortunate to be able to bring in people who were new to the industry. These individuals have such a passion to learn that helped them adapt quickly. By having fresh points of view, we have been able to reinvent how we work, leading to improved processes and enabling successful projects. Whether it is internal resourcing or working with our clinical sites, we should be open to diverse perspectives and help keep the industry growing.

What would be your piece of advice to your peers in the industry?

Stepping out of your comfort zone and embracing change is crucial for success and growth. If we stay resistant to change, the industry will be dormant.

We must allow space for innovation and reinvention of processes to improve efficiency. Though, while we reinvent we must ensure our new processes are site-and patient-centric.