Clinical Research – Light at the End of a Tough Year

It was a challenging year for the clinical research industry during 2009 as Clinical Research Organisations (CROs) and other medical trial sites faced numerous pharmaceutical firms merging, projects being cancelled and restrictions on study budgets. Some investigators even went bankrupt but there was hope that things would start to improve towards the latter part of the year as pharma and biotech companies began to revamp R&D.

Prospects came for those companies able to take advantage of the global trail by moving firmly into emerging markets such as Latin America and China. Roughly 12 of the main CRO’s with a grip on international markets made up almost 50% of the outsourcing market. Mergers took place episodically within the eClinical trade industry which gave rise to more opportunities for major players in the field.

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Medical Device Outsourcing

It is anticipated that the global medical device outsourcing industry will be worth $26,7 billion dollars by 2014, increasing at a compound growth rate of 13.9 percent from the year 2009 to 2014. Where the regulatory services area is growing fast, CROs have seen a rising demand for a broad array of clinical services, including data management, monitoring, patient recruitment and study design.

In the past, due to regulatory ambiguity, up to 510,000 delays in the approval and financial restrictions faced by medical device companies meant that many products were first tested in Europe before marketing approval was sought in the US, saving both time and money. However, this approach may change as the new EU medical device decree comes into effect in March 2010.

European Acquisition Ends 2009 with a Bang

Even with the global economic recession, 2009 made a hopeful start with numerous European CROs merging and acquiring US base firms with one international CRI making a firm move in Eastern and Central Europe.
And just as things started to slow down to a complete standstill, the sudden merger between Synexus and ClinPharm stunned everyone as the year ended with a bang.

The Author is Passionate about: clinical research