virus

Perspectives

COVID-19 response capabilities for life sciences

Combating COVID-19 with resilience

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused life sciences organizations to adjust to supply chain and clinical development disruptions and financial challenges that would have previously been unthinkable. Where can your organization focus its response? How can you continue to deliver products and innovative discoveries to your patients? And what should you do next? Learn how we can help you combat the coronavirus with resilience.

Response strategies for COVID-19

Deloitte can help life sciences organizations respond to the pandemic, and recover and thrive, by drawing on the scalable, experienced support of our industry-leading life sciences professional services organization and experience honed during the H1N1, Zika, and Ebola responses.

There are several areas where life sciences organizations can focus their responses to COVID-19:

  • Crisis response and management
  • Supply chain and manufacturing
  • Research and development
  • Workforce strategies
  • Financial and downturn planning
  • Financial reporting
  • Tax resilience
  • Cybersecurity and privacy
  • Compliance
  • Commercial

Key COVID-19 response areas

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Find out more about COVID-19’s impact on government programs, commercial contracting, and gross-to-net.

Questions leaders can consider in planning their responses

Chief executive officer

  • What does a post-COVID-19 world look like and what is my organization’s role?
  • What parts of my organization should adapt to a post-COVID-19 world and how should we adapt?
  • How can I enable quick and streamlined communications to patients, employees, and my teams as we respond and recover?
  • What risks may emerge in the next month, three months, six months, and year and how can I ensure we are ready for them?

Chief information/technology officer

  • What digital capabilities are most important for immediate and longer-term investments?
  • Which capabilities and solutions are most reliable and best for my tailored needs?
  • What new information security risks are emerging as more work is done remotely?

Chief strategy officer

  • How do we need to pivot our corporate strategy to adapt to the emerging normal post-COVID-19?
  • What programs and revenue streams need to start and stop in the next three months, six months, and year?
  • What do we do with the recent investments we have made?
  • What other investments should we be considering?
  • What can we do to better prepare for uncertainty in the ecosystem?
  • Do we have a perspective on what capabilities we need to buy versus build versus partner to position our firm for longer-term success in the post-COVID-19 environment?

Chief operating officer

  • How can I continue to ensure employee safety at all our sites?
  • How can I identify and respond to risks in our manufacturing process and supply chain?
  • How do I accurately predict demand and prevent hoarding of supplies?
  • How do I manage unpredictability in supply chain and access to API and other materials produced in highly impacted geographies?

Chief financial officer

  • How can we prepare to meet external reporting requirements on a timely basis as a more virtual organization?
  • What alternative liquidity models and derivative strategies should I be considering?
  • What can we be doing proactively to mitigate the financial impact of canceled or delayed launches or trials?
  • How should I be thinking about internal risk controls we have in place, and how might I need to change them?
  • How will our organization need to pivot in the next 12 months to recapture losses?
  • What should our strategy be for pursuing R&D investments and other capital-intensive projects as we respond and recover to this crisis?

Chief R&D/clinical officer

  • How can I analyze and understand the patient and site impact on my R&D portfolio, and how can I adjust my clinical operations and resources to respond?
  • How can I accelerate the application of virtual health, digital technologies, and other tools to transform my clinical program execution?

Chief tax officer

  • How can opportunities provided in the CARES Act assist in addressing cash flow and margin pressure?
  • How do changes in taxable income projections impact historic tax-planning priorities and challenges?
  • Are there credit and incentive opportunities as a result of changes in sourcing and the supply chain footprint?

Chief human resource officer

  • How do I help build resilient, productive, engaged, and effective teams and leaders across functions in times of crisis?
  • How do I ensure business continuity through virtual/remote work internally and for external stakeholder engagement?
  • How do we balance the short-term and necessary workforce actions with positioning ourselves for lasting resilience?
  • How does workforce and talent planning evolve from response re-allocation of resources to building for the new normal post-crisis?
  • How do we balance business outcomes with changing needs of people?

Chief legal or compliance officer

  • How can I conduct investigation activities virtually?
  • How is my litigation or fraud risk different?
  • How does the shift to digital/virtual impact my approach to auditing and monitoring?
  • What will reports, such as T&E, look like going forward? Are there concerns about potentially questionable reporting?

Chief commercial officer

  • How do we support customers to accelerate their recovery and strengthen long-term relationships?
  • How do we adapt the commercial model to optimize SG&A and build the foundation for long-term success?
  • How can we strategically invest in virtual engagement capabilities for the long run as more work becomes remote?
  • What steps can we take to “reboot” and flexibly deploy field resources, taking into account local and customer variances?

Get in touch

Mike DeLone

Principal | US Life Sciences Sector Leader

Dan Ressler

Life Sciences & Health Care Leader, Global Risk Advisory

Maggie Zellers

US Life Sciences Tax Leader | Deloitte Tax LLP

Jeff Ellis

LSHC Industry Leader| Audit & Assurance Partner

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