StudiesThe Contract Research Market for Drug Discovery Technologies Contract Research Organizations (CROs) are a growing part of the scientific landscape as pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are choosing to outsource a growing number of activities to these organizations for both tactical and strategic reasons. This growing interest in CROs throughout the biopharmaceutical industry prompted The Science Advisory Board to conduct a survey of its members to gather their insights about this growing trend. This study focused on the market for CROs performing pre-clinical services. We surveyed members at both pharmaceutical/biotech companies – to determine their motivations for outsourcing, as well as scientists at pre-clinical CROs – to learn how CRO scientists are responding to these changes. Some of the interesting findings from the report include reasons for outsourcing, future services to be offered and requested of CROs, as well as the scienfitic background of CRO scientists. These findings are presented below:  The primary reason for biopharmaceutical companies to outsource highlighted both the tactical and strategic reasons for outsourcing particular aspects of their drug development program. The most commonly selected answer choices demonstrate that the phamaceutical and biotechnology companies are no-longer outsourcing solely due to a lack of in-house capability, but are using outsourcing as a way to afford themselves a strategic advantage in drug development.   Pharmaceutical and biotechnology respondents noted that they would likely be outsourcing additional services to CROs including Drug Discovery and Other pre-clinical/drug discovery services, such as: Histology, Cell-banking, Behavioral Models, QA and Non-Clinical Imaging. Not surprisingly, we found that CROs are responding to this demand shift by offering a larger number of these “other” pre-clinical and drug discovery services.   In addition to understanding the services and trends shaping the CRO industry, The Science Advisory Board was interested in learning about the career path of CRO scientists. The most common prior work experience of the CRO scientists sampled was experience at a Core Laboratory or Facility. In addition, 67% of the CRO scientists surveyed have worked at a CRO for longer than 5 years, indicating a relatively experienced scientific workforce. For questions and comments, please contact g.thompson@scienceboard.net [ View Current & Future Studies ] [ View Past Studies ] |
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