Players in the pharma industry can’t rely solely on their own R&D pipelines. Successful companies need to collaborate broadly, whether in the form of partnerships, licensing deals, or even potential mergers and acquisitions. This need for collaboration is driven by the necessity to develop new products quickly, reduce costs, and gain access to new markets while limiting risk exposure. However, despite the promises of collaboration, not every alliance can achieve its objectives.
 
Alliances are complex and executing them successfully requires significant attention. This is where Alliance Managers come in. Every partnership is different, and a dedicated Alliance Manager can help to make a collaboration a success that meets the expectations of all parties.
 
This article taps the insights of two experienced Alliance Managers, Lisa Cozza, principal consultant, Tunnell Consulting, and Allen T. Bolden, senior biopharmaceuticals professional, to explain the role of Alliance Managers and why they are important in the pharmaceutical industry.

Overview: The Role of Alliance Management

“As most companies have outsourced many of their CMC functions—including manufacturing, lab testing, some warehouse and logistics and storage—relationship management has become a critical success factor in ensuring all parties involved in the outcome of drug development are aligned,” explains Lisa Cozza.
 
“I think more and more companies see the value in having a mid to senior level person responsible for the strategic relationship vs the tactical aspects,” Allen Bolden adds.

What is an Alliance Manager?

“The Alliance Manager is a leadership role, supporting the success of multiple partnerships,” explains Cozza. “These roles often will help de-escalate issues and find early solutions to challenges.”
 
According to Bolden, “Alliance Managers are typically accountable for the overall success of the program and the health of the relationship. They oversee the contractual obligations, serve as the primary escalation point for issues that can’t be resolved at the project team level, facilitate the governance model established as part of the relationship, and monitor key performance indicators that measure the overall health of the relationship.
 
“Alliance managers often work behind the scenes to ensure all parties involved are aligned with the strategy for the relationship and related projects. In some companies, the Alliance Manager is influential in the contracting process and accountable for work package changes.”

Alliance Managers vs. Project Managers

“While the project manager is responsible for coordinating the operational and tactical activities that support the program, the Alliance Manager is accountable for the overall execution of the program,” explains Bolden. “They manage relationships between external partners, such as contract manufacturing and development organizations (CDMOs), contract research organizations (CROs), or other pharmaceutical companies that are a part of the partnership.”
 
“Alliance Management supports the success of programs that require multiple entities/companies to deliver.  They support the overall success and deal with program/project issues that escalate and help resolve them between the parties,” Cozza adds. “For example, if a batch fails and the partners can’t find the cause, the job of the Alliance Manager is to be considerate of both parties’ needs and to create a win-win that is acceptable for both parties.”
 
“CDMO’s often have strong PM’s but not Alliance Managers,” Cozza observes. “Since CDMO’s have very limited budgets and their profits are reliant on getting it right the first time, having an alliance management role can offset some of the miscommunications and last-minute changes that often result in repeat work or worse, batch failures. Alternatively, sponsor companies who work with multiple partners and CDMO’s or suppliers would benefit greatly from the Alliance Manager role.”

Traits of an Effective Alliance Manager

“The Alliance Management role requires an empathetic yet fact-based approach to conflict resolution,” says Cozza. “The basic premise that rings true in my experience, is that all parties want to do the right thing and do it well. Managing relationships with that foundational principle will set the tone for a strong working relationship.”
 
She continues: “The Alliance Manager should have excellent written and oral communication skills, a sense of humor, the ability to raise difficult issues with facts, leaving the emotions out, and have the patience and persistence to get leaders involved to solve challenges. It is critical for a successful partnership to find an effective approach, remembering that the supplier is a partner and success requires all parties to deliver.”
 
Bolden echoes this sentiment. He remarks: “A CDMO with an Alliance Manager can greatly streamline communication between the CDMO and the client. A central point of contact with appropriate influence in the organization often can quickly resolve challenges throughout the execution of the program. The Alliance Manager is ‘the voice of the customer’ internally even when the position is unpopular for the organization.”
 
“Good Alliance Managers are effective at communicating in different styles,” Bolden adds. “They are able to read the room and adapt their communication style to suit the situation. They must be adept at influencing without authority. They also must have good relationships up, down, and across the organization. Alliance Managers often work behind the scenes to influence decisions within their organizations. Understanding the nuances and politics of the organizations is critical to the Alliance Manager’s ability to influence.”
 
“If a batch fails and the partners can’t find the cause, the job of the Alliance Manager is to be considerate of both party’s needs and to create a solution that is acceptable for both parties, but Alliance Managers do not only exist to solve problems,” Cozza stresses. “They need to manage the good times as well. A good AM encourages and celebrates successes. They communicate with partners when things exceed expectations.”

Keys to a Successful Alliance

Cozza cites “timely, open and honest communication” as key elements that make a successful alliance.
 
“Educated leaders, clear objectives and budgets, as well as a strong understanding of the human factors that will ultimately drive the partners into a room to resolve challenges,” are other important factors she highlights.
 
Bolden says, “I find the key to a successful alliance is finding the most basic common ground to build upon when challenges arise. For the majority of pharmaceutical companies and CDMO’s the basic foundation is to deliver high-quality therapies to the patients who need them in the most economical way.”
 
He adds, “I always fall back to the question of, ‘What is in the best interest of the patients?’ Companies with aligned values and people who believe in that as the foundation of the relationship are what make an alliance successful. There will never be a perfect tech transfer, scale-up, or production campaign. How the two companies work together through those challenges is what can make the alliance successful or catastrophic.”

Alliance Management in Action

Bolden shared the following experience illustrating how Alliance Management can make a positive impact on a collaboration: “At one point in my career I was with a major pharmaceutical company and we were launching our first biologic in the US from a CDMO that had very little commercial experience. We had a mandate to be able to supply the distribution center with ‘launch material’ within 24 hours of BLA approval from the FDA. This presented several challenges because we did not know exactly when the approval would come through, and we were still negotiating label content. The main challenge was how to reserve label/pack capacity with our CDMO without knowing when we needed the capacity.
 
“As a CDMO, they wanted a firm commitment, and as a client, we wanted flexibility. As an Alliance Manager, I worked with my counterpart to outline a strategy that gave us some flexibility in the way of a daily go/no window of commitment, which would then give the CDMO flexibility to sell capacity to their other clients. The launch was ultimately a success by which future launches would be measured.”

Key Takeaways

• Collaboration is Crucial: Pharmaceutical companies need to form partnerships, licenses, or mergers to develop new products faster, reduce costs, and access new markets.
• Alliance Managers are Essential: These professionals manage relationships, resolve conflicts, and ensure successful partnerships.
• Traits of a Good Alliance Manager: Strong communication, empathy, problem-solving skills, and a focus on patient needs are key.
• Building Successful Alliances: Open communication, clear objectives, and a shared commitment to patient well-being are essential.

 

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Lisa Cozza is a seasoned executive with over 35 years’ experience in biomanufacturing and cGMP operations, quality, and supply chain for bulk drug and final drug product in all stages of clinical and commercial production. She also has extensive knowledge of operations leadership, lean process improvements, external supplier management, CDMO contract negotiations, business development, sales and marketing and alliance leadership. Before rejoining Tunnell, Cozza was COO at Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, VP at Catalent, Executive Principal at BDO, Executive Director at AZ and spent 9 years with Human Genome Sciences and 9 years with Lonza Portsmouth, all in roles that directly worked with CDMOs.
 
Allen T. Bolden is a results-oriented alliance and operations manager with over 20 years of global experience directing all aspects of the biologics manufacturing lifecycle from development to commercialization. He boasts expertise in end-to-end program and alliance management with internal and external manufacturing partners. Most recently, he served as Senior Director of Commercial Operations and PMO, at Ridgeback Therapeutics where he was responsible and accountable for setting up, implementing, and managing the project management office duties for the organization, among other things. Previously, he was Director of the Bioprocess Technology Group at BDO USA and an R&D Alliance Manager at AstraZeneca.