Innovating doesn’t just mean to design from scratch solutions never seen before. Innovating means first of all giving answers to contingent problems, bringing value inside and outside the company thanks to technologies and teamwork. With this in mind, one of the winners of the Eugenio Aringhieri 2021 Award is Clinical Trials KPI Progress Report, a project that combines the benefits of digital transformation with the new needs of Dompé farmaceutici. Thanks to the international expansion and the rapid increase in clinical trials, fivefold in a few months, innovating was a goal that could no longer be postponed.

Clinical Trials KPI Progress Report is a platform that collects, in a single place, all the key information on ongoing clinical trials, thus showing both the overall data in an aggregate form and the progress status of each trial. It’s a solution that was developed “in-house” and tailored to the real business needs, customizable, simple and immediate, with a tailor-made graphic design. The platform has also resulted in significant savings compared to similar products available on the market. A tangible example of how the impact of an innovation is measured not only in its "wow effect", but above all in the ability to identify real needs and then provide effective answers in the simplest possible way.

The project was implemented thanks to a cross functions team involving the Head of Global Clinical Operation Maria De Pizzol as coordinator, the Research & Operations Specialist Roberto Perilli, the Controller Chiara Leonetti and the Analytics & Master specialist Mulita Megi. A truly mixed, young and digital-oriented team, with skills from big data to law, from financial to scientific and operations, which in a few months went from an inspiration of mid-2020 to the start of work in November, up to a functional and working product. The platform became fully operational in March 2021.

Once developed, the tool (for CTMS professionals, i.e. Clinical Trial Management System) shows the flow of trials in a concise and effective way. It’s a data visualization tool available to the management showing on a weekly basis the status of clinical studies, thus identifying the strengths and any critical issues. Having aggregated data at an international level enables to make more informed strategic choices regarding supplies, consultancy, enrollment in studies, costs and the best performing geographical areas. It is also suitable for further expansion beyond the 3 continents involved in the 10 studies underway at the time of implementation, therefore it is projected towards a future in which Dompé clinical trials will involve more and more nations.

The value created by the Clinical Trials KPI Progress Report does not lie only in the operation itself of transforming an internal database into a readable product. It lies above all in the skills acquired in creating a workflow at home that touches many departments. Understanding which elements to emphasize on a visual level, evaluating the different types of outputs, dealing with the difficulties of synchronizing data on different time zones and on the minutiae of programming that can make a difference in the final result. Gathering remotely to talk about issues that are not what you expect to discuss when you work for a pharmaceutical company. It’s a project that can make you wake up in the morning with an idea in mind, or maybe work on it in the evening and at the weekend, thus creating harmony between departments that thrive on innovation.