Case Study
Q&A with a biotech on use of Torx® Make
A San Francisco-based biotech shares their experiences with evaluation, deployment and use of Torx Make for collaboration and sharing compound information
What were the pain points which led you to consider Torx?
We had a variety of pain points that needed addressing around communication and sharing compounds both internally and externally to third party CROs for chemical synthesis. Before Torx, for every compound that needed external synthesis, there were excel files, PowerPoints, emails and SharePoint sites to shuttle the required information- taking hours of the scientists’ time on low value added tasks. The decision to adopt Torx Make was to streamline communication and add auto-registration of samples via an API connection to existing registration systems (figure 1).
Figure 1. Integration of Torx Make with CDD Vault for automatic registration
Were you considering other platforms as well as Torx?
Yes. We received a recommendation (for Torx) from Collaborative Drug Discovery (CDD), and were also considering two other LIMS platforms.
How was the evaluation experience?
In the evaluation, Torx was scored against the two larger LIMS platforms. Ultimately, the unique and perfect fit of functionality allowed us to decide to add this into the LIMS offerings since this was a missing function of those bigger platforms.
What were the key features which convinced you to adopt Torx?
The key features were native chemistry drawing functionality paired with the Kanban board (figure 2) allowing attachments and QC purity data. It was simple, effective and met the need to work with our CROs.
Figure 2. Intuitive Kanban of Torx Make
How was the deployment experience?
The deployment experience was the best I’ve ever had in my professional career! The team were responsive, adaptive and accommodating. The deployment was quick, effective, and any UAT (user acceptance testing) updates were done very quickly. In software deployment, there is a term called the ‘trough of disillusionment’ which we never hit. Instead, we got to the ‘plateau of productivity’ quicker than anticipated, which exceeded our expectations.
What benefits do you feel that Torx brought to your workflow?
There was a huge time saving in back-and-forth communications. I think we saved 2hrs/week/scientist for a total saving of 40hrs/week or 1 full time equivalent (FTE), plus another 4-6 hrs/week/dept head on coordination, equalling almost another FTE. The back of the napkin math for us on ROI (return on investment) was a $60K investment/year for $500K in time savings for scientists to do more high value work.
How do you feel that Torx performed against your expectations?
The Torx team exceeded expectations while working with us to fill the Third-Party Risk Management Survey AND to make improvements in a timely manner. We have one of the most rigorous security reviews in the industry. This survey consisted of 160+ industry standard questions that uncovered security improvements for the platform. By prioritizing these non-user facing security features, the Torx team worked collaboratively to make the biotech industry as a whole more infosec secure. And we think that these questions can hopefully be re-used for prospective customers to reduce onboarding time for both vendor and customers.
How would you summarize your experience with Torx Software?
I highly enjoyed working with the team. For anyone working on chemistry and coordinating synthesis with CROs (figure 3), this software is a must have! I'm happy to provide reference calls to prospective customers if the need arises.
Figure 3. Coordinating synthesis with CROs