If escalating salaries are unsustainable, what else can life sciences firms do to retain valuable pharmacovigilance talent as shortages grow, asks Alan White, CEO of Arriello.

What more can life sciences firms do to hang on to restless pharmacovigilance talent, as their most valued employees crave broader experience? Asks Alan White, CEO of Arriello.

Alan White, CEO of Arriello, explores alternative ways for life sciences firms to keep hold of experienced, qualified professionals as demand for pharmacovigilance skills soars.

There has been much talk recently about the challenge of retaining talent in life sciences, particularly in relation to safety and regulatory disciplines, where younger professionals’ ambitions for a broad base of experience are jarring with companies’ needs to hold onto expertise they have invested in.

In process outsourcing, it's easy to neglect the role of formal project management to keep delivery on track; unless it's clinical research, biotech or pharma organisations commonly neglect this when transferring a service externally.

The importance of not leaving outsourcing outcomes to chance... When biotech and pharma organizations outsource activities it's too easy to neglect the importance of tight project management and stakeholder coordination, explains Arriello's COO Anna Lukyanova.

As more routine PV work is automated, and as technology literacy moves up the qualifications & experience wish list, a serious review of resourcing and education strategies is needed. That’s if the life sciences industry is going to have fit-for-purpose PV teams in future.

Relieving local affiliates of heavy regulatory and/or pharmacovigilance workloads via a coordinated approach to outsourcing should be perfectly viable, but a frictionless global plan requires close coordination with HQ-level activities. Anna Lukyanova, COO of Arriello, offers advice on how to achieve a smooth transition...