CLIENT CASE STUDY

CHALLENGE

A top five pharmaceutical company was faced with a major problem of not having cell banks ready when needed. Laboratory personnel were spending inordinate amounts of time searching for samples that may or may not be there. Freezers were clogged with materials that were no longer needed, increasing storage costs and making finding anything difficult. Sometimes cell banks had to be replenished, but the lack of a real-time inventories made this process difficult and inefficient. Most importantly, projects were delayed,and time was wasted.

DETAILS

This Company had several problems that were causing delays and wasting resources:

1. They weren’t sure what was in their freezers.
2. They weren’t sure where samples were stored.
3. They were storing samples that were no longer needed.
4. Cell banks were not always available for projects.
5. Inventories were not being updated and banks were not being replaced when used.
6. There was no backup of critical samples.These issues took time away from research and slowed projects.

SOLUTION

ABS provided a comprehensive solution that addressed these issues by:

1. Client was overwhelmed trying to manage their scientist’s needs for cell lines to research
2. Cell Banks were grown by several different scientists, which led to lack of consistency and QC
3. Many of the cell banks were suspected to be contaminated
4. The cell model for research gained popularity, leading to an increase in cell line vial storage requests
5. Storage units became full and disorganized

BENEFITS

This collaboration with ABS had several major benefits for the Company:

1. Storage and labor costs were reduced.
2. Banks production by ABS freed Company personnel for research projects.
3. Cell bank availability increased.
4. Additional security was provided by offsite backup storage at ABS’ secure facility.