BEST PRACTICES RESEARCH

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1 2013 Frost & Sullivan 1 We Accelerate Growth

2 Entrepreneurial Company of the Year Award Pharmaceutical Knowledge Process Outsourcing North America, 2013 Frost & Sullivan s Global Research Platform Frost & Sullivan is in its 50th year in business with a global research organization of 1,800 analysts and consultants who monitor more than 300 industries and 250,000 companies. The company s research philosophy originates with the CEO s 360-Degree Perspective, which serves as the foundation of its TEAM Research methodology. This unique approach enables us to determine how best-in-class companies worldwide manage growth, innovation and leadership. Based on the findings of this Best Practices research, Frost & Sullivan is proud to present the 2013 North American Entrepreneurial Company of the Year Award in Pharmaceutical Knowledge Process Outsourcing to Sciformix Corporation. Key Industry Challenges Addressed by Pharmaceutical Knowledge Process Outsourcing Drug development is a tightly regulated industry that is becoming increasingly complex. In order to succeed and remain competitive in this challenging environment, pharmaceutical companies must stay on top of the ever changing landscape of clinical development processes and procedures, global health authority regulations and guidelines, and rigorous post-marketing requirements to name a few. In order to control escalating costs of drug development while maintaining high standards, organizations are increasingly looking to outsource beyond the traditional sectors of clinical research operations and manufacturing, and are trending toward outsourcing business and knowledge processes such as clinical, medical, and regulatory affairs. Processes such as 2013 Frost & Sullivan 2 We Accelerate Growth

3 global clinical development strategy and regulatory interaction, data management, pharmacovigilance, and scientific writing are now being outsourced to trusted partners. While many contract organizations such as contract research organizations (CROs), knowledge process organizations (KPOs), and business process organizations (BPOs) are looking to meet the increasing demand, one emerging company stands out with their specialized focus on the needs of the Life Science industry. Sciformix, a leading global contract KPO organization with locations in the U.S., India and Philippines, is dedicated to filling the gaps left by these other companies who may focus on operations but not science, or science but not processes, or larger multi-industry organizations that lack the advantage of specialized Life Science expertise. Sciformix has attracted a pool of talent with diverse capabilities and has a business plan designed to meet the needs of all pharma clients, both large and small. With deep subject matter expertise in all phases of drug development, from initiation of clinical trials to post-marketing support, Sciformix is able to tailor a flexible solution to help their clients quickly and efficiently bring more drugs to the market and manage their product lifecycle in a compliant manner. Their strength in the area of Safety and Risk Management (SRM), a process that is rapidly increasing in both importance and complexity, ensures the best possible outcomes for patients and manufacturers with regard to product safety. In addition, their expertise in Clinical development and post-approval support is expanding and evolving to meet the constant barrage of global market and regulatory demands, while ensuring that patient safety and product efficacy outcomes are met with high quality. Impact of Entrepreneurial Company of the Year Award on Key Stakeholders The Entrepreneurial Company of the Year Award is a prestigious recognition of Sciformix s accomplishments in Pharmaceuticals Knowledge Process Outsourcing. As captured in Chart 1 below, by researching, ranking, and recognizing those who deliver excellence and best practices in their respective endeavors, Frost & Sullivan hopes to inspire, influence, and impact key stakeholders (see chart 1). Chart 1: Best Practices Leverage for Growth Acceleration 2013 Frost & Sullivan 3 We Accelerate Growth

4 Key Benchmarking Criteria for Entrepreneurial Company of the Year Award For the Entrepreneurial Company of the Year Award, the following criteria were used to benchmark Sciformix s performance against key competitors: Growth Strategy Excellence Growth Implementation Excellence Degree of Innovation with Services and Technologies Leadership in Customer Value Speed of Response to Market Needs Decision Support Matrix and Measurement Criteria To support its evaluation of best practices across multiple business performance categories, Frost & Sullivan employs a customized Decision Support Matrix (DSM). The DSM is an analytical tool that compares companies performance relative to each other with an integration of quantitative and qualitative metrics. The DSM features criteria unique to each Award category and ranks importance by assigning weights to each criterion. The relative weighting reflects current market conditions and illustrates the associated importance of each criterion according to Frost & Sullivan. Fundamentally, each DSM is distinct for each market and Award category. The DSM allows our research and consulting teams to objectively analyze each company's performance on each criterion relative to its top competitors and assign performance ratings on that basis. The DSM follows a 10-point scale that allows for nuances in performance evaluation; ratings guidelines are shown in Chart 2. Chart 2: Performance-Based Ratings for Decision Support Matrix This exercise encompasses all criteria, leading to a weighted average ranking of each company. Researchers can then easily identify the company with the highest ranking. As a final step, the research team confirms the veracity of the model by ensuring that small changes to the ratings for a specific criterion do not lead to a significant change in the overall relative rankings of the companies Frost & Sullivan 4 We Accelerate Growth

5 Growth Strategy Excellence Growth Implementation Excellence Degree of Innovation with Services and Technologies Leadership in Customer Value Speed of Response to Market Needs Weighted Rating BEST PRACTICES RESEARCH Chart 3: Frost & Sullivan s 10-Step Process for Identifying Award Recipients Best Practice Award Analysis for Sciformix The Decision Support Matrix, shown in Chart 4, illustrates the relative importance of each criterion for the Entrepreneurial Company of the Year Award and the ratings for each company under evaluation. To remain unbiased while also protecting the interests of the other organizations reviewed, we have chosen to refer to the other key players as Competitor 1 and Competitor 2. Chart 4: Decision Support Matrix for Entrepreneurial Company of the Year Award Measurement of 1 10 (1 = lowest; 10 = highest) Award Criteria Relative Weight (%) 20% 20% 20% 20% 20% 100% Sciformix Competitor Competitor Frost & Sullivan 5 We Accelerate Growth

6 Criterion 1: Growth Strategy Excellence Every new company is born with the goal to grow, yet not every company will achieve that goal. A winning growth strategy is a critical first step to realizing growth potential. Rather than diving in head first in an attempt to be all things to all clients, Sciformix strategically grew the business in carefully planned phases. The company was conceptualized with the intent of bridging the key gaps left by existing life science KPOs, focusing initially on drug safety and risk management since this was an area of growing importance for the pharmaceutical industry. Capitalizing on the in-house capabilities they diligently built, Sciformix was able to offer multiple safety-focused services such as safety data management, medical information support and aggregate report writing to provide added value to customers and an edge to Sciformix. Additional services such as statistics, statistical programming, and regulatory affairs were then phased in, leveraging their ability to attract best-in-class talent and insight into the existing knowledge gaps of competitors. By strategically phasing in services and offerings and matching in-house capabilities with market needs, Sciformix successfully grew from a small knowledge process organization to a global scientific process organization (SPO) dedicated to serving the life sciences industries with specialized focus on the biopharmaceutical, generic pharmaceutical, consumer product and medical device industries. Criterion 2: Growth Implementation Excellence Optimal implementation of an effective growth strategy is imperative for realizing the benefits of controlled and continuous growth. Sciformix was keen to have the required processes and tools in place from the outset in order to efficiently carry out their growth strategy, and do so at a manageable pace in order to ensure sustainable delivery of high quality services. Evidence of Sciformix s implementation excellence was well demonstrated by the establishment of essential organizational infrastructure such as an effective performance management system and all basic standard operating procedures within the first year of operations. Backed by the experience of a seasoned leadership team, recruitment and retaining of the most critical element of a KPO - its people was proficiently carried out assuring acquisition of talent and expertise that was both complementary and supplementary to that of the company s founders and matched to the needs of the industry and vision of the company. In order to scale with their clients needs and develop more strategic partnerships with them, in due course of time, Sciformix decided to focus on implementation of six sigma and LEAN methodology to its services in order to provide enhanced value and quality. Sciformix has pioneered the implementation of LEAN methodology in life science outsourcing to its core service areas and its customers are reaping the benefits of enhanced efficiencies, productivity and quality Frost & Sullivan 6 We Accelerate Growth

7 Criterion 3: Degree of Innovation with Services and Technologies Key to Sciformix s strength is their vision of providing valuable offerings to address the unmet needs of their clients and fill the void left by competitors. Technology and automation are critical to effective implementation of LEAN processes. Core to their values, innovation instills an entrepreneurial mindset in Sciformix employees, allowing them to use technical innovations to facilitate the implementation of best practices and ensure quality deliverables with consistency and predictability. Their automated enterprise platform and process management systems enables optimal resource utilization and efficiency of their people and processes. Their knowledge management system helps them capture, share and reuse experts knowledge across the organization and with their clients. Sciformix commenced operations with projects in pharmacovigilance due to the increasing focus on drug safety across all stakeholders and the ensuing rise in resource demand and complexity. Sciformix was able to effectively penetrate this field due to their deep subject matter expertise which far surpassed that of their competition and their vision to target end-to-end safety and risk management support rather than only safety data management. Furthermore, Sciformix envisioned the added value of hosting a safety database, which would complement their functional and operational capabilities and provide a much needed service for an expanded customer base. Sciformix s investment in a safety database has allowed them to cater to the needs of mid-size/small companies and also generic pharma companies who prefer to not make such a heavy investment inhouse. Following on Sciformix s established track record of end-to-end safety services, this technology addition elevated them further as a niche partner across different industry segments. Criterion 4: Leadership in Customer Value By virtue of decades of experience of its leadership team, Sciformix has unique insights into the pain points of the industry and is able to anticipate future needs due to their understanding of the evolving regulatory and industry landscape. Sciformix has used this to focus on specialized, differentiated services with a flexible approach tailored to every client s specific needs, thereby enhancing customer value. A company that places emphasis on being a true partner and providing their customers with the most value will be rewarded accordingly with consistent repeat business. Hence it is not surprising that a large proportion of Sciformix s business is repeat business, and the company has retained all of their initial clients as well. Sciformix s clients value its breadth and depth of expertise and services in complex areas such as safety and risk management, clinical development and regulatory affairs. As a testament to Sciformix s scientific depth and expertise, senior members of the organization are recognized as thought leaders and are often seen presenting at major international conferences. However, if there is one aspect 2013 Frost & Sullivan 7 We Accelerate Growth

8 of the Sciformix business model that particularly enhances the customer value, it is their flexibility and adaptability, enabling them to quickly adjust to differing client needs. Sciformix recognizes that every client will have specific and rapidly evolving needs in today s dynamic regulatory and business environment. Thus, they have adopted an integrated approach that enables them to scale to proficiently cover the diverse needs of clients yet remain flexible and agile enough to design an effective solution while staying within budget, a practice that is greatly appreciated by their clients. Moreover, its business locations in the United States, India and the Philippines allow Sciformix to offer cost-effective solutions while maintaining global geographical coverage. Criterion 5: Speed of Response to Market Needs Sciformix s continued growth amidst the increasingly complex landscape of product development is a true testament of their ability to quickly adapt to the ever-changing needs of life sciences organizations. The depth and breadth of the knowledge and expertise of the Sciformix team and flexible business model has allowed this firm to grow and expand along with the evolution of the healthcare environment and provide solutions for evolving needs. Sciformix ability to respond to market needs in a timely manner and to stay ahead of the curve is demonstrated through its recent focus on a few key areas of increasing significance and relevance such as safety and risk management of biologics as well as of consumer products, product launch support in emerging markets and postapproval safety and efficacy services. Conclusion Frost & Sullivan benchmarking of market participants concludes that Sciformix is unique among KPO organizations with regard to its strong scientific foundation, the depth and breadth of expertise in supporting product development, its client-focused and flexible business model which spans client needs from niche requests to end-to-end support, and ability to adapt to the changing life science product development environment. Frost & Sullivan is proud to recognize Sciformix as the 2013 Entrepreneurial Company of the Year in Pharmaceutical Knowledge Process Outsourcing. The CEO 360-Degree Perspective TM - Visionary Platform for Growth Strategies The CEO 360-Degree Perspective model provides a clear illustration of the complex business universe in which CEOs and their management teams live today. It represents the foundation of Frost & Sullivan's global research organization and provides the basis on which companies can gain a visionary and strategic understanding of the market. The CEO 360-Degree Perspective is also a must-have requirement for the identification and analysis of best-practice performance by industry leaders Frost & Sullivan 8 We Accelerate Growth

9 The CEO 360-Degree Perspective model enables our clients to gain a comprehensive, action-oriented understanding of market evolution and its implications for their companies growth strategies. As illustrated in Chart 5 below, the following six-step process outlines how our researchers and consultants embed the CEO 360-Degree Perspective into their analyses and recommendations. Chart 5: The CEO's 360-Degree Perspective Model Critical Importance of TEAM Research Frost & Sullivan s TEAM Research methodology represents the analytical rigor of our research process. It offers a 360-degree view of industry challenges, trends, and issues by integrating all seven of Frost & Sullivan's research methodologies. Our experience has shown over the years that companies too often make important growth decisions based on 2013 Frost & Sullivan 9 We Accelerate Growth

10 a narrow understanding of their environment, leading to errors of both omission and commission. Frost & Sullivan contends that successful growth strategies are founded on a thorough understanding of market, technical, economic, financial, customer, best practices, and demographic analyses. In that vein, the letters T, E, A and M reflect our core technical, economic, applied (financial and best practices) and market analyses. The integration of these research disciplines into the TEAM Research methodology provides an evaluation platform for benchmarking industry players and for creating high-potential growth strategies for our clients. Chart 6: Benchmarking Performance with TEAM Research About Frost & Sullivan Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best-in-class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined research and best-practice models to drive the generation, evaluation and implementation of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages 50 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from more than 40 offices on six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit Frost & Sullivan 10 We Accelerate Growth