Clinical trials market tops $50B in 2008

In recent months, a number of CROs have seen their bottom lines suffer as developers cancel trials to save money. But there's a light at the end of this tunnel: a report from research group Visiongain found that despite the short-term slowdown, contract research outfits can look forward to strong growth in the clinical trials market over the next 10 years.

The clinical trial market reached $50 billion last year, and is predicted to grow 11 percent a year through 2018. This growth is driven by pharma companies need to reduce drug development costs and improve cost effectiveness. This includes utilizing contractors expertise in hot markets such as India and China, where the pharmaceutical market is growing rapidly. "Pharmaceutical companies [currently] spend approximately 30 percent of their total R&D budget on outsourcing," reports Pharmafocus. "Outsourcing continues to rise with a growth rate ranging from 10 to 20 percent."

The Visiongain notes that other CRO trends include an emphasis on electronic data capture (EDC) as well as a greater use of biomarkers as surrogates for clinical endpoints in studies, notes Pharmafocus.

- here's the Pharmafocus article

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