TECH OUTLOOKTECH OUTLOOKNOVEMBER - 202019questions and steer their R&D strategy towards higher success rates. Because of the delivered value, pharma and biotech companies keep coming back to Scitaris to fulfill their project needs. "We have a team that has extensive experience in the areas of therapeutics and modalities--from rare diseases to oncology, from small molecules to the latest cell therapies," says Graham Scholefield, Managing Partner at Scitaris. Unlike other major pharma consulting firms led by people with a largely commercial or economics backgrounds, Scitaris is science driven, which is crucial to assess drugs in development. Another unique aspect of the firm is its flexibility that reflects in the project proposals it develops for clients. Aware that project scope often changes due to results generated in the initial stages or external factors, Scitaris works flexibly to accommodate every new requirement while avoiding friction along the journey. "Our goal is simple: to ascertain the best solution to our client's challenges, by whatever means possible. Quality is at our core," says Scholefield.A case in point, a NASDAQ-listed, European biotech company had an asset in immuno-oncology but was unsure about the way in which it should be developed for cancer treatment. Scitaris was called in to address the issue. Combining the online database The Cancer Genome Atlas that has extensive genomic and expression data of >10,000 cancer patients with its other databases, Scitaris was able to find prioritize cancer profiles for the client. "We used a database that has more than a hundred cancer subtypes and we ranked them by their immune status in relation to this particular drug. That allowed us to make decision on the most interesting tumor types. We then selected the most relevant types among them and analyzed that data further to elucidate granular details in areas such as competition, clinical development plan, and partnering potential, amongst others," explains Scholefield. Having established itself firmly in the German pharma expanse, Scitaris already has a global footprint with over half of its revenue coming from the US. "In Latin, Scitaris means `seek to know,' and this is the core of who we are, and that will always keep us relevant in the industry," concludes Scholefield.
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