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Drug Development Outsourcing Goes Increasingly Global

Driven by mounting market pressures, companies are increasingly outsourcing the drug development process. Not only has the complexity of conducting clinical trials grown over the last 20 years, but the number of drugs in development has increased, government regulations have tightened and patient recruitment has become more difficult in the United States. A new report from Kalorama Information, "Outsourcing in Drug Development: The Contract CRO Market, 3rd Edition," reveals that in 2007 34% of global R&D spending, or $26.4 billion, was committed to outsourcing, up from 22% in 2002, an increasing amount of which is going offshore.

Developing and bringing a drug to market costs over $900 million and takes as long as 15 years, while over 80% of drugs that enter clinical trials fail to get approved by the FDA. Today, in order to decrease R&D expenses and accelerate drug discovery and development, developers are outsourcing more of their R&D functions. But a major obstacle remains -- the patient recruitment and retention process -- particularly as clinical trial protocols become more complex. Delays can result in millions of dollars of lost sales.

In response, the outsourcing trend has begun to shift offshore as drug developers seek patient recruitment in large populations of people eager to take part in clinical trial research, especially in Eastern Europe, Asia and Latin America. These regions can often produce the required number of participants in half the time, with better compliance and cheaper medical professionals.

"Pharmaceutical marketing is truly global right now," notes Kalorama Information's publisher Bruce Carlson. "Developers need to submit new drugs for approval in multiple countries simultaneously, rather than in succession, in order to maximize revenue and reduce costs. Recruiting volunteers in multiple countries is essential."

Currently, however, the United States remains the world's largest clinical research market with just over half of all worldwide trial sites still located here.

Kalorama Information's report "Outsourcing in Drug Development: The Contract CRO Market, 3rd Edition," discusses the increasing trend for pharmaceutical and biotech companies to outsource various or all functions of the drug development process and details the current and future global market. For further information visit: http://www.kaloramainformation.com/redirect.asp?progid=13382&productid=1646604.

About Kalorama Information

Kalorama Information supplies the latest in independent market research in the life sciences, as well as a full range of custom research services. Kalorama routinely assists the media with healthcare topics, and can provide experts to speak about markets in the life sciences industry.