Many in the healthcare industry are now going into Six Sigma. Shouldn’t the pharmaceutical industry do the same—especially that both industries concern people’s health, people’s lives?
PharmaLive says that pharmaceuticals will benefit a lot if they implement Six Sigma. The methodology will allow them to reduce the time needed to get their drugs on store shelves and cut costs by eliminating variations in many processes and trimming waste.
To me what’s more important is the state of processes when these companies manufacture these drugs. How often do we hear about defective drugs that have ruined lives?
iSixSigma features “Breakthrough: Do Clinical Research the Six Sigma Way,” which basically emphasizes improved process workflows. The article also suggests how Six Sigma methodology can help pharmaceutical companies improve clinical trial performance.
The author, Elliott W. Liu, concludes, “In the highly regulated pharmaceutical industry, documenting processes is a critical element in the demonstration of quality and is considered concrete evidence for regulatory approval in marketing new drugs. However, if defects and inefficiency exist from the continued use of traditional clinical research methods, documented evidence will continue to carry defects and inefficiencies.”
I agree!
Incidentally, there’s a Lean Six Sigma for Pharmaceutical and Biotech Manufacturing Excellence conference on July 24 - 26, 2006 at Park Hyatt Philadelphia, Philadelphia.
