Oncology Research Area, Mereside, AstraZeneca R&D Alderley Park, Alderley Edge, UK.
Drug Discov Today. 2011 Jun;16(11-12):467-71. doi: 10.1016/j.drudis.2011.03.007. Epub 2011 Apr 3.
In addressing the challenges facing pharmaceutical R&D one question is frequently asked: how can continuous improvement (CI), delivered through a Lean Sigma approach, be applied in a research environment to deliver overall benefit? We show that taking a value chain approach to improvement projects in a discovery research organization, initially focusing on the drug discovery project delivery level (i.e. middle layer of the value chain), provides the foundation for an effective CI programme. The adaptation of Lean Sigma principles and methodology, combined with the tenacity and creativity of scientists, enabled the delivery of significant improvements in challenging areas, including target selection, project decision making and the compound design-make-test-analyse (DMTA) cycle.
在解决制药研发面临的挑战时，人们经常会问一个问题：如何通过精益西格玛方法实现持续改进，并将其应用于研究环境中以实现整体效益？我们表明，在发现研究组织中采取价值链方法来改进项目，最初专注于药物发现项目交付层面（即价值链的中间层），为有效的持续改进计划奠定了基础。精益西格玛原则和方法的调整，加上科学家的坚韧和创造力，使包括目标选择、项目决策和化合物设计-制造-测试-分析（DMTA）周期在内的挑战性领域都取得了重大改进。
