Quantified KM value #50 - Hoffman-LaRoche

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Here's an article about Hoffman-LaRoche, and their knowledge management pilot focused on accelerating drug trials.

The results of this pilot are summarised below

Roche’s first indication that its knowledge management effort was succeeding came early on, when it asked the ex-regulators to react to its knowledge map. The group responded with high praise. Had they been equipped with the insight it promised, they said, they could readily have approved a new drug. Could it be true? More to the point, could Roche’s knowledge map really deliver more effective NDAs? It wasn’t long till Roche had a real test, and this time the feedback was definitive. In an application for new indications for a drug, Roche expected its filing time to consume 18 months. With the new knowledge tools in place, it took just 90 days. Approval from the FDA, projected at three years, came within nine months.

And where does the value lie, in this 9 months acceleration? The article explains

If better knowledge management could pare down average approval time by only a fraction, the return on investment would be immense. Scanning the opportunity, it seemed resonable to Seemann to expect at least a three-month reduction in major new drug approvals. At $1 million per day, that would represent some $90 million in additional profitability—per product.