Top CROs can look forward to ‘five years of growth’
pharmafile | April 8, 2009 | News story | Research and Development | CRO
The current economic downturn is having a braking effect on the top 10 contract research organisations, but a new report from Business Insights predicts the companies are due for a period of fast growth.
According to the report, entitled The Top 10 Contract Research Organizations, the global contract research organisation (CRO) market was worth $18 billion in 2008, 14% more than in the previous year.
And despite reports from many CROs that demand for their services softened in the fourth quarter of 2008, Business Insights believes the market will keep expanding at a rate of 14% a year for the next five years, reaching $35bn in 2013.
Cost containment and regulatory pressures within the pharma industry are driving R&D outsourcing across the globe, says the report. Meanwhile, the fragmented structure of the CRO industry has led to an increase in strategic alliances, acquisitions, joint-ventures and other partnership deals as companies attempt to expand their service offerings and geographical presence.
Clinical obstacles to approval have become more significant due to the growing availability of existing generic treatments, and the trend to adopt Health Economics Outcomes Research (HEOR) assessments is increasing the complexity of clinical research.
The CRO industry is also benefiting from tougher clinical obstacles to drug approval, due to the increasing availability of generics, and from the growing complexity of clinical research as the trend builds towards Health Economics Outcomes Research, says Business Insights.
Quintiles Transnational is currently leading the global CRO market, with sales of $2.7bn and a market share of 16.9% according to 2007 figures, it says.
Following after is Covance, with registered revenues of $1.5bn in 2007, representing a market share of 9.7%. The company is building "global capabilities," says Business Insights, with many clinical trials now being conducted in emerging markets.
Related Content
Drug development contracts: can lessons be learned from healthcare delivery?
There is a very good question to ask at the beginning of every project: “What …
LabCorp buys Covance for $6.1 billion
US medical diagnostics firm LabCorp has entered the drug development business via a $6.1 billion …
Parexel acquires ClinIntel for trial supply services
Clinical research organisation Parexel has acquired all of the outstanding equity securities of privately-owned ClinIntel, …
