Specialist
Former VP at Iqvia Holdings Inc
Agenda
- Developments in pharmaceutical and support services environment, discussing high demand for multi-service and bundled offerings
- Service expansion opportunities and product analysis – DCTs (decentralised clinical trials), FSP (functional service provider) sourcing, technological capabilities and quality and safety checks
- Iqvia’s (NYSE: IQV) consolidation efforts to digitise drug development, discussing potential acquisition targets
- Competitive positioning in relation to key competitors, including Icon (NASDAQ: ICLR)-PRA and Veeva (NYSE: VEEV)
- Near-term outlook for Iqvia, including projected Q4 2022 financial performance
Questions
1.
What is your assessment of Iqvia’s current positioning within the marketplace? What are two significant developments investors should know in this space the company operates in and what has changed since we last spoke [see Iqvia – CRO Development & Updated Pharmaceutical Developments – 29 July 2022]?
2.
Given that phase 3 is where all the money is for Iqvia, are you seeing more investment in phase 3 trials over the past year and is that what you expect going forwards?
3.
How strong of a foothold does Iqvia possess, being the largest player providing pharmaceutical peers with a one-stop shop optionality for support services? How would you assess the demand for a multi-service option? How has customer behaviour changed over 2022?
4.
Could you elaborate on Iqvia’s strengths and how the company differentiates itself in the market on those points?
5.
A lot of life science companies tend to veer towards a one-stop shop offering, given the therapeutic trials that they’re trying to offer, but I’ve heard some specialists mention that some biotech companies are moving towards more mid-sized CROs [contract research organisations] and looking for more niche offerings. Is that a potential risk for Iqvia in the future?
6.
What are your expectations for RFPs [requests for proposal] and cancellations or delays across the board for Iqvia, as Q4 2022 results loom around the corner? I know Q3 2022 showed an RFP flow increase but some specialists are expecting to see a decline in upcoming results, due to the stabilisation of economic forces in addition to a large amount of consolidation and competition. Would you agree, or what other factors would you chalk up to that decline? Or do you expect an increase or decrease?
7.
What are your expectations going into 2023 and a potential recessionary scenario? How significant an impact might that have, from a macro-dynamic perspective – not just from a staffing shortage standpoint? Is it above the average attrition rate?
8.
Iqvia’s backlog came in at about USD 25.8bn at the end of Q3 2022. What are your expectations for the company’s R&D solutions backlog in Q4 2022? Do you expect it to be higher?
9.
How much of Iqvia’s current backlog is at risk of cancellation or budget prioritisations? The industry norm is speculated to be between 10% to 15%. Is that number too high or too low?
10.
Can you describe Iqvia’s contract plan in place and its ability to win and retain new customers, as well as retain old customers? How are contracts generally negotiated and does the company offer a certain time frame for the delivery? What happens if a cancellation does take place? Are its margins able to absorb it as much as we think they can?
11.
You mentioned Iqvia’s global reach as one of its big advantages. Could you elaborate on how that provides the company with this large scalability?
12.
Smaller biotech firms have been hit extremely hard during the pandemic with the evident lack of funding but, more recently, a huge round of lay-offs. How do you suspect this will impact margins going forwards for Iqvia? Will it be significant or minimal, alluding to its client base?
13.
All companies in the biotech space seem to be acquiring in the name of digitisation of drug development. How has Iqvia been able to strategise and prove out its digitisation standards? What data opportunities are there?
14.
You mentioned two acquisitions that Iqvia recently made, one was Lasso and the other DMD. How are these acquisitions promoting omnichannels and digital factors? What kind of synergies have been realised there?
15.
Are there any options other than real-world evidence for acquisitions on the clinical side? Are there any gaps that Iqvia could be filling through M&A?
16.
You mentioned that Iqvia didn’t have FSP [functional service provider] outsourcing initially but has started to grow that. Do you think the company has been able to sufficiently invest in the development of it over the H2 2022? I know Icon seems to be the leader in FSP, post its acquisition of PRA. How is Iqvia positioned vs Icon, solely based on FSP outsourcing? How much catch-up does it have to do or has it caught up? What is your outlook here?
17.
What does Icon have in the FSP space that Iqvia doesn’t have? Why do you think it would beat Iqvia?
18.
What kind of technological advancements has Iqvia made on the clinical trial management front – alluding to DCT [decentralised clinical trials], efficiency plays, data monitoring and patient centricity? Would you chalk this up as a success factor for the company?
19.
We spoke about some advantages of reduction in first person in, protocol reduction, reduction in drop-outs. Are there still any challenges, other than staffing, that could be going on within the DCT space for Iqvia?
20.
Is Iqvia trying to grow the DCT space through M&A or grow organically? The company used to partner with third-party vendors but later started to grow organically/internally for home health offerings, etc. Do you think this has boded well for it relative to other CROs who have chosen the inorganic route, such as Syneos and Icon?
21.
How successful has Iqvia been at mitigating the staffing pressures, from a technological perspective, with DCT models coming out? Given it’s a data-driven company, has it been able to implement and find innovative measures to staff these sites? You were super positive on the mobile research nurse initiative that we spoke about last time. How has that evolved?
22.
Iqvia possesses the lion’s share of the market when it comes to data collection and making reports that people are very trusting of. Can you take a deep dive into the company’s utilisation of AI and the collection of trial data? This seems to be a big problem with a lot of clinical trials across the board. How limiting is that for the company or how has it found a way around that?
23.
Does Iqvia struggle a little more? Are you optimistic about the future for solutions such as variable technology? I’ve heard mixed reviews around what kind of data can be collected from these technologies.
24.
A lack of investment into C> [cell and gene therapy] capabilities, given it’s a novel space, has been identified as a weakness for Iqvia. Why do you think that the company has chosen to de-prioritise efforts – or maybe they haven’t – but does this potentially put it at a significant disadvantage as other CROs have understood the value proposition of C>? Will customers still choose to go to Iqvia for this, just because of its reputation?
25.
To confirm, you don’t think now is the right time for Iqvia to invest in C>? I’m trying to get an assessment because across the board I’ve been hearing that this is the right time.
26.
Can you go into a little bit more detail into what kind of therapeutic areas Iqvia would like to specialise in? Do you think the company is too oncology-focused and should diversify a little bit more into CNS [central nervous system] as well as rare or orphan diseases?
27.
Could you draw a comparison between Iqvia and Veeva? Based on CRM advancements, who has the upper hand right now, especially with the release of Veeva Vault? It has an amazing reputation but it’s been noted that the company hasn’t been able to succeed in displacing Veeva in the CRM space as much as it would have liked to. Would you agree with that? What kind of improvements could be made here?
28.
That’s a very interesting point that you bring up in terms of when Veeva’s Salesforce contract expires, Iqvia could potentially take advantage of that and see where it goes from there. How would you differentiate the two based on R&D and data spend? You previously mentioned Iqvia’s investments into omics and digital health could allow it to compete with Veeva.
29.
Should Iqvia be particularly worried about Veeva? There are some segments where Veeva will dominate but overall, how do you expect them to play out in the next couple of months?
30.
I have heard that Iqvia has a great track record of meeting regulatory requirements and getting the drug through the final approval stage. Would you agree? Why or why not, and how do you assess its relationships with regulatory bodies? You mentioned that it is a key criterion for Iqvia’s success. What is the likelihood of things following through and how would you assess those dynamics?
31.
Given its sheer size, would it ever make sense for Iqvia to merge or acquire another CRO, perhaps a Syneos or another player? I know Syneos is speculated to be a potential acquisition target, given its recent financial downturn. Do you think Iqvia would go down this route soon? What kind of synergies can materialise by these acquisitions?
32.
What is your 12-18-month outlook for Iqvia, perhaps highlighting 2-3 catalysts or takeaways investors should be walking away with?
33.
Is there anything else that clients should be aware of around Iqvia or the CRO market before we end off?
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