“Aggregation” is the latest “buzz word” trending through the scientific community as the overall solution to advancing science. As with all trends, “Aggregation” is essentially re-badging or re-naming a practice that is already in use while using different marketing tactics for the providers to create income.
These companies offer an online “portal for procurement” based on a database of participating members. The goal of these technology companies is to remove procurement departments from organizations while expanding the reach of their use. They market their services as: Power of scale – Speed, and Lower Costs - Savings.
This may be useful for commonly used materials or supplies when quality can be controlled: Companies like VWR and Amazon “aggregate” suppliers into a portal for sales. Purchases are tracked automatically, prices are pre-negotiated with suppliers, and they handle payments.
Using an “Aggregation” portal for sourcing R&D partners and talent poses several great risks for organizations. Currently, government-imposed sanctions on major foreign CDMOs will cause supply crises in the industry. There is no global capacity to pick up the work from these CDMOs and it is a race for companies looking to outsource. This is a simple supply/demand ratio which will ONLY raise costs and delay progress.
