Procurement and supply chain: an existential challenge for life sciences companies and their investors.
Early-stage life science companies depend heavily on external suppliers.
Unlike many other sectors, critical scientific, operational and regulatory activities are frequently outsourced from a very early stage. Companies rely on CROs, CDMOs, specialist laboratories, technology providers, regulatory advisers, logistics providers and a wide range of highly specialised scientific partners to progress therapies towards clinical and commercial reality.
Procurement and supply chain management therefore become strategically important much earlier than many founders, investors and leadership teams initially expect.
This is not simply a question of purchasing efficiently. Supplier decisions directly influence development timelines, operational resilience, data integrity and regulatory readiness. In the slightly longer term, they will also govern manufacturing scalability, intellectual property protection, the company’s financial runway and – of course – investor confidence.
In practice, early-stage life sciences firms face a uniquely demanding procurement environment.
Complex supplier ecosystems
Scientific outsourcing relationships are technically sophisticated, commercially significant and operationally critical. Selecting and managing the right external partners requires structured evaluation, contracting and ongoing governance.
Long development timelines
Clinical and regulatory pathways can extend over many years. Weak supplier agreements or poorly managed relationships established early in a company’s development can create delays, disputes and escalating costs that compound over time.
Asymmetric supplier relationships
Early-stage companies – from Pre-Seed through Series B and beyond – are often relatively small customers of much larger suppliers. Without procurement discipline and commercial preparation, companies may lack negotiating leverage and accept unfavourable pricing, contractual terms or operational risk exposure.
Irreversible early decisions
Choices relating to suppliers, manufacturing routes, clinical operations and regulatory strategy can become difficult and expensive to reverse later. Decisions made during seed and early growth stages may shape operational flexibility for years.
Regulatory and compliance exposure
Supplier contracts, quality arrangements, audit rights, data handling and operational controls must ultimately withstand regulatory scrutiny. Weak procurement governance increases both operational and compliance risk.
Capital efficiency
Investor funding is finite and often highly time-sensitive. Strong procurement capability improves commercial discipline, supplier performance and cost control, helping companies extend runway and deploy capital more effectively.
Supply chain fragility
Life science supply chains are increasingly exposed to geopolitical instability, regulatory change, concentration risk, logistics disruption and broader PESTLE-related pressures. Many early-stage companies remain heavily dependent on single suppliers or geographically concentrated supply chains.
Investor stewardship
Operational maturity matters to investors. Procurement capability can provide evidence of governance, commercial discipline and risk awareness, particularly as companies progress through successive funding rounds.
09
Scale Readiness
Frameworks built for Series A rarely survive the demands of Series B growth.
01
Complex supplier ecosystems
Scientific outsourcing relationships are technically sophisticated, commercially significant and operationally critical. Selecting and managing the right external partners requires structured evaluation, contracting and ongoing governance.
02
Long development timelines
Clinical and regulatory pathways can extend over many years. Weak supplier agreements or poorly managed relationships established early in a company’s development can create delays, disputes and escalating costs that compound over time.
03
Asymmetric supplier relationships
Early-stage companies – from Pre-Seed through Series B and beyond – are often relatively small customers of much larger suppliers. Without procurement discipline and commercial preparation, companies may lack negotiating leverage and accept unfavourable pricing, contractual terms or operational risk exposure.
04
Irreversible early decisions
Choices relating to suppliers, manufacturing routes, clinical operations and regulatory strategy can become difficult and expensive to reverse later. Decisions made during seed and early growth stages may shape operational flexibility for years.
05
Regulatory and compliance exposure
Supplier contracts, quality arrangements, audit rights, data handling and operational controls must ultimately withstand regulatory scrutiny. Weak procurement governance increases both operational and compliance risk.
06
Capital efficiency
Investor funding is finite and often highly time-sensitive. Strong procurement capability improves commercial discipline, supplier performance and cost control, helping companies extend runway and deploy capital more effectively.
07
Supply chain fragility
Life science supply chains are increasingly exposed to geopolitical instability, regulatory change, concentration risk, logistics disruption and broader PESTLE-related pressures. Many early-stage companies remain heavily dependent on single suppliers or geographically concentrated supply chains.
08
Investor stewardship
Operational maturity matters to investors. Procurement capability can provide evidence of governance, commercial discipline and risk awareness, particularly as companies progress through successive funding rounds.
09
Scale Readiness
Frameworks built for Series A rarely survive the demands of Series B growth.
For many early-stage life science firms, procurement capability has historically lagged behind scientific capability.
That gap now matters more than ever.
As outsourcing models become more complex, development costs rise and external risks increase, procurement and supply chain management are becoming core strategic capabilities for companies seeking to scale successfully, protect investor capital and accelerate the delivery of new therapies to patients.
What We Do
Our Services
Specialist procurement support across the full life sciences development lifecycle.
Negotiation & Contracting
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Negotiation & Contracting
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Eu ultrices aliquet phasellus nunc est odio. Blandit vitae id sodales consectetur arcu at eu mattis a. Eu amet eget cursus quisque habitant convallis lectus eu. Faucibus scelerisque imperdiet nunc nec. Tellus rhoncus tincidunt semper justo at dui sed diam blandit. Lectus quis et nascetur sem sed maecenas consectetur fermentum lacinia. Dignissim arcu ut consequat nunc feugiat eu. Viverra in arcu sollicitudin pellentesque nibh arcu felis. Id mauris imperdiet ultrices iaculis dolor nunc at pulvinar. Lorem elit lacus convallis viverra nec vitae. Id turpis mauris morbi ipsum faucibus quis. Est molestie mi ipsum pellentesque mi. Volutpat consequat viverra lectus eu nulla massa. Scelerisque lorem tellus massa aenean tincidunt sit mauris etiam.
Negotiation & Contracting
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Eu ultrices aliquet phasellus nunc est odio. Blandit vitae id sodales consectetur arcu at eu mattis a. Eu amet eget cursus quisque habitant convallis lectus eu. Faucibus scelerisque imperdiet nunc nec. Tellus rhoncus tincidunt semper justo at dui sed diam blandit. Lectus quis et nascetur sem sed maecenas consectetur fermentum lacinia. Dignissim arcu ut consequat nunc feugiat eu. Viverra in arcu sollicitudin pellentesque nibh arcu felis. Id mauris imperdiet ultrices iaculis dolor nunc at pulvinar. Lorem elit lacus convallis viverra nec vitae. Id turpis mauris morbi ipsum faucibus quis. Est molestie mi ipsum pellentesque mi. Volutpat consequat viverra lectus eu nulla massa. Scelerisque lorem tellus massa aenean tincidunt sit mauris etiam.
Negotiation & Contracting
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Eu ultrices aliquet phasellus nunc est odio. Blandit vitae id sodales consectetur arcu at eu mattis a. Eu amet eget cursus quisque habitant convallis lectus eu. Faucibus scelerisque imperdiet nunc nec. Tellus rhoncus tincidunt semper justo at dui sed diam blandit. Lectus quis et nascetur sem sed maecenas consectetur fermentum lacinia. Dignissim arcu ut consequat nunc feugiat eu. Viverra in arcu sollicitudin pellentesque nibh arcu felis. Id mauris imperdiet ultrices iaculis dolor nunc at pulvinar. Lorem elit lacus convallis viverra nec vitae. Id turpis mauris morbi ipsum faucibus quis. Est molestie mi ipsum pellentesque mi. Volutpat consequat viverra lectus eu nulla massa. Scelerisque lorem tellus massa aenean tincidunt sit mauris etiam.
Negotiation & Contracting
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Eu ultrices aliquet phasellus nunc est odio. Blandit vitae id sodales consectetur arcu at eu mattis a. Eu amet eget cursus quisque habitant convallis lectus eu. Faucibus scelerisque imperdiet nunc nec. Tellus rhoncus tincidunt semper justo at dui sed diam blandit. Lectus quis et nascetur sem sed maecenas consectetur fermentum lacinia. Dignissim arcu ut consequat nunc feugiat eu. Viverra in arcu sollicitudin pellentesque nibh arcu felis. Id mauris imperdiet ultrices iaculis dolor nunc at pulvinar. Lorem elit lacus convallis viverra nec vitae. Id turpis mauris morbi ipsum faucibus quis. Est molestie mi ipsum pellentesque mi. Volutpat consequat viverra lectus eu nulla massa. Scelerisque lorem tellus massa aenean tincidunt sit mauris etiam.
Negotiation & Contracting
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Eu ultrices aliquet phasellus nunc est odio. Blandit vitae id sodales consectetur arcu at eu mattis a. Eu amet eget cursus quisque habitant convallis lectus eu. Faucibus scelerisque imperdiet nunc nec. Tellus rhoncus tincidunt semper justo at dui sed diam blandit. Lectus quis et nascetur sem sed maecenas consectetur fermentum lacinia. Dignissim arcu ut consequat nunc feugiat eu. Viverra in arcu sollicitudin pellentesque nibh arcu felis. Id mauris imperdiet ultrices iaculis dolor nunc at pulvinar. Lorem elit lacus convallis viverra nec vitae. Id turpis mauris morbi ipsum faucibus quis. Est molestie mi ipsum pellentesque mi. Volutpat consequat viverra lectus eu nulla massa. Scelerisque lorem tellus massa aenean tincidunt sit mauris etiam.
Negotiation & Contracting
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Eu ultrices aliquet phasellus nunc est odio. Blandit vitae id sodales consectetur arcu at eu mattis a. Eu amet eget cursus quisque habitant convallis lectus eu. Faucibus scelerisque imperdiet nunc nec. Tellus rhoncus tincidunt semper justo at dui sed diam blandit. Lectus quis et nascetur sem sed maecenas consectetur fermentum lacinia. Dignissim arcu ut consequat nunc feugiat eu. Viverra in arcu sollicitudin pellentesque nibh arcu felis. Id mauris imperdiet ultrices iaculis dolor nunc at pulvinar. Lorem elit lacus convallis viverra nec vitae. Id turpis mauris morbi ipsum faucibus quis. Est molestie mi ipsum pellentesque mi. Volutpat consequat viverra lectus eu nulla massa. Scelerisque lorem tellus massa aenean tincidunt sit mauris etiam.
Fractional Procurement Leadership
Not every company needs — or can afford — a full-time Chief Procurement Officer. Our Fractional Procurement Leadership service provides access to senior procurement strategy and leadership on a flexible, part-time basis, scaled to your stage.
Whether you need two days per month ahead of a key milestone, or two days per week to build a procurement function from scratch, we provide the seniority and experience your stage demands without the permanent headcount cost.
Board-level reporting
Strategic transparency for investors and boards
Supplier governance
Frameworks that protect your key relationships
Category strategy
Spend category leadership and optimisation
Team mentoring
Building internal procurement capability
Investor readiness
Operational diligence preparation support
Risk management
Supply chain continuity and contingency planning
Who We Do It For
Our Clients
Specialist support for life sciences companies and the investors who back them.
Client Group 01
Life Science Companies
We work with drug discovery, development, and medical technology companies from first-raise through commercial scale-up, calibrating our approach to your stage, team, and supplier ecosystem.
Seed & Series A
The First Raise
We establish procurement foundations — vendor qualification frameworks, spend governance, and supplier contracts — that protect capital and create the operational infrastructure for growth without overengineering.
Series B & Beyond
The Second Raise
We reset your procurement operating model for larger contracts, clinical supply chains, and the investor scrutiny that expects operational rigour to match the ambition of your scientific programme.
Client Group 02
Investors
VC and PE investors in life sciences increasingly recognise that operational capability — not just scientific and clinical promise — determines whether portfolio companies reach value-inflection milestones on schedule.
01
Pre-investment procurement and supply chain due diligence
02
Post-close operational capability gap analysis
03
Portfolio-wide procurement benchmarking
04
Milestone-ready procurement programme support
05
Interim procurement leadership for portfolio companies
06
Value creation planning through supply chain optimisation
Who We Are
15 years building procurement capability in life sciences
Tom Wells is a procurement and supply chain specialist with over fifteen years of experience working exclusively in the life sciences sector, spanning early-stage biotechnology through to FTSE-listed pharma.
His career has been defined by building procurement functions from the ground up in high-growth environments — creating the infrastructure, capability, and commercial discipline that allow science-led organisations to deploy capital efficiently.
Tom founded Agar Advisory to bring this operational expertise to companies and investors at the critical early-stage inflection points where procurement decisions have their greatest long-term impact.
15+
Years in life sciences procurement
£500M+
Supplier spend managed
40+
Portfolio companies advised
Resources
Insights & Commentary
Clinical Operations
The Key Role Of Clinical Supply Teams In Patient Centricity Efforts
6 min read
Series B Strategy
You Just Secured £50 Million. Now On To The Hard Part: Clinical Trials
8 min read
Podcast
Proactive Procurement Strategies For Biotech With Tom Wells
42 min listen
Supply Chain
The Future Of Biologistics: Supply Chain Resilience In A Post-Pandemic World
10 min read