CRO

Parexel zeroes in on adaptive trials with its latest eClinical move

As the industry embraces risk-based clinical trial monitoring, Parexel International ($PRXL) is expanding its banner eClinical offering to help sponsors make data-driven decisions in the middle of a study.

Through its Perceptive MyTrials Data-Driven Monitoring software, Parexel says it can help trial sponsors plan and execute adaptive clinical trials, allowing them to pool real-time safety and quality information from disparate sources. With that data, sponsors can make informed, top-level decisions to mitigate risk and steer study direction, Parexel said, thereby reducing costs and promoting regulatory compliance.

The technology takes the place of traditional scheduled visits to each site in a trial, which can be expensive and time-consuming, especially in a global, multicenter study, Parexel Informatics President Xavier Flinois said.

"Greater insight into study data allows for a more precise determination of when on-site monitoring visits need to occur and what activities should be undertaken during those visits," Flinois said in a statement. "This can make clinical trial participation safer for patients while offering cost efficiencies for sponsors."

Parexel's deeper dive into adaptive trial monitoring follows recommendations for the technology from regulators in the U.S. and Europe, and an increase in demand from some of the world's largest drug developers. The rise of adaptive trials is largely seen as boon to CROs with scale, as establishing proprietary technology would require a significant upfront investment, leading drugmakers to lean on their contractors instead of going it alone. Parexel contends with the likes of Quintiles ($Q) and Icon ($ICLR) in the space, and the latter just paid $143.5 million for Aptiv Solutions to scale up its presence.

Parexel's eClinical business, which dropped its former "Perceptive" moniker and took on the company name in February, has been its most reliable growth engine. The CRO's traditional drug development units have mostly ebbed and flowed with market trends, but its eClinical segment has long been a steady source of revenue growth. In the 9 months ended March 31, the business brought in $198.1 million, a 21.6% jump over the same period last year.

- read the statement