# A Decade of Partnership Driving Scale, Savings & Speed in Global R&D ### EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Eleven Years of Partnership, $100M+ in Orchestrated R&D Spend, and a New Model for Active Cost Discipline A top-10 global biopharmaceutical company — headquartered in the United Kingdom, with R&D operations across 30+ sites in four continents — has partnered with Science Exchange since 2015. Over more than a decade, the relationship has evolved from a single procurement pilot into the foundational infrastructure through which the company sources, contracts, and manages external R&D across its global footprint. What began as an investment in procurement efficiency has matured into a strategic operating capability. In 2025, the partnership extended further with a joint Savings Initiative — repositioning Science Exchange not only as the infrastructure layer for external R&D, but as an active partner in delivering measurable cost discipline. $100M+ in R&D spend orchestrated through the platform since 2015 295 unique suppliers actively engaged under one master agreement ~6× order volume growth from 2022 to 2025 (86 → 505 completed orders) 445 active researchers and procurement users across global sites In its first year, the Savings Initiative delivered a 10% supplier discount the company had previously been unable to secure through years of direct negotiation — early evidence of the platform’s shift from passive transaction layer to active procurement partner. ## The Challenge ### Scaling External R&D Without Losing Control of Cost and Complexity The company’s R&D investment has grown approximately 90% since 2016, with a pipeline now spanning more than 60 assets in clinical development. But the mechanisms used to engage external science were not built to scale at the same pace. Across a distributed global footprint, supplier engagement and negotiation remained decentralized — limiting enterprise-wide visibility into who was being engaged, on what terms, and at what aggregate cost. **Global Scale, Distributed Ownership** R&D operations across 30+ sites in the UK, US, EU, India, Asia-Pacific, and Canada meant supplier relationships and engagement standards lived in many places at once — with no single source of truth for activity, terms, or total cost. **Rising External Spend** External research spend expanded alongside pipeline growth. Without a centralized layer, procurement had limited visibility into supplier concentration, duplicated engagements, and pricing inconsistencies across regions. **Untapped Enterprise Leverage** When research teams negotiate independently, the company cannot fully apply the purchasing power of the broader enterprise. Discounts achievable at global scale often remained inaccessible at the engagement level. **From Reactive to Proactive** Procurement leadership sought to evolve from a reactive cost-tracking function into a proactive cost-discipline partner — one that could quantify value and influence sourcing decisions, not just report on them. ## The Solution ### From Infrastructure to Strategic Procurement Partnership **Phase One (2015–2024):** Establishing the Infrastructure Layer Over the first decade of partnership, Science Exchange became the unified front door for external R&D sourcing across the company’s global footprint. Researchers across sites used the same platform to scope, contract, manage, and pay for external scientific services — replacing fragmented, site-specific workflows with a standardized experience supported by unified compliance, contracting, and payment infrastructure. **Phase Two (2025–Present):** Activating Cost Discipline at Scale In 2025, the partnership entered a new phase with the launch of a dedicated Savings Initiative. Through this joint program, a Science Exchange-led team takes an active role in supplier-level cost negotiation on behalf of the company’s research teams — identifying pricing opportunities, pursuing discounts, and tracking realized savings against defined annual targets, with shared performance commitments. - One global platform for external R&D A single interface used by 445 researchers and procurement users across 30+ sites — for sourcing, contracting, milestone tracking, and payment. - Curated supplier network under one agreement 295 actively engaged suppliers operate under a single master agreement, giving researchers fast access to specialized capability while reducing per-engagement contracting burden. - Active supplier negotiation as a service A dedicated team identifies supplier-level savings opportunities, negotiates on the company’s behalf, and tracks realized savings against defined annual targets. - Native integration with enterprise systems Science Exchange integrates with the company’s procurement, content management, and analytics infrastructure — including SharePoint, ELN, Ariba, and Power BI. ## The Results ### Compounding Adoption, Expanding Scale, and Early Proof of Savings The trajectory of the partnership reflects a compounding model of value creation. More teams, sites, and use cases have converged onto a single platform — transforming Science Exchange from an optional tool into the default mechanism for engaging external R&D across the organization. **A growth curve, not a single moment** Completed orders processed through Science Exchange, year by year: **2022** **86** completed orders **2023** **172** completed orders **2024** **296** completed orders **2025** **505** completed orders Annual external R&D spend grew in parallel — from approximately $5.5M in 2022 to nearly $19M in 2025, with cumulative spend now exceeding $100M. **Scale at a glance** - **$100M+** in cumulative external R&D spend orchestrated through the platform since 2015 - **1,500+** R&D engagements processed end-to-end - **295 unique suppliers** actively engaged under one master agreement - **445 active researchers and procurement users** across the company’s global footprint - **~6× growth** in annual order volume from 2022 to 2025 **Early proof of active savings** The Savings Initiative is still in its first year, but it has already produced a meaningful proof point: a 10% supplier discount negotiated by the Science Exchange team — on a supplier the company had been unable to secure a discount with through years of direct negotiation. The outcome is now serving as a template for similar engagements with other enterprise customers. ## A Lasting Partnership ### Why This Model Sustains and Scales Over Time The durability of this partnership reflects four design principles that align with how global R&D organizations actually operate. - **Mirror the operating reality of a global enterprise.** Science Exchange was deployed site by site and team by team — matching the company’s distributed structure rather than forcing a one-size-fits-all rollout. - **Integrate with the systems already in place.** The platform operates inside the company’s existing enterprise stack — SharePoint, ELN, Ariba, Power BI — so adoption did not require parallel infrastructure. - **Evolve as customer priorities evolve.** Phase one focused on infrastructure. Phase two emerged as procurement leadership shifted from visibility to measurable cost discipline. - **Align around measurable outcomes.** The Savings Initiative is structured with shared performance targets — meaning Science Exchange has a direct stake in delivering savings, not just maintaining platform availability. ## The Operating Layer Behind Modern R&D Execution For this top-10 global biopharmaceutical company, Science Exchange has become more than a procurement platform. Over more than a decade, it has evolved into the operating layer through which external R&D is executed — connecting researchers, suppliers, and procurement in a single system that supports both scale and control. The introduction of active savings marks the next phase. As R&D investment continues to rise, organizations are no longer looking solely for visibility into external spend — they are looking for mechanisms that directly shape outcomes.