INFORMATICS IN THE BIOANALYTICAL AND CONTRACT RESEARCH MARKET
THE GLOBAL CRO MARKET
In today?s life science market, with the strict regulatory
framework and ever-increasing drug development costs,
establishing strategic partnerships between pharmaceutical
and biotechnology companies and CROs has emerged as a
critical means to gain and sustain a competitive edge.
CROs have become critical contributors to research and
development (R&D), clinical trials and manufacturing
activities, capable of delivering more volume studies
quicker, cheaper and sometimes more efficiently than
in-house laboratories. The leading CROs are full service
providers operating globally and serving as one-stop-shops
for activities, ranging from preclinical through to marketing.
In May 2007, Business Insights Ltd. published the study
?The CRO Market Outlook: Emerging Markets, Leading
Players and Future Trends?. According to this report, the
total CRO market size was estimated at $14bn in 2006 and
projected to grow at an annual rate of 14-16% to reach
$24bn by 2010. The market is highly fragmented and the
total number of CROs worldwide has grown to over 1,100
despite continued consolidation. However, the five largest
CROs have increased their market share considerably over
the last few years and are estimated to hold 45% of the
total market. A major factor that has contributed to the
success of some of these large global CROs has been the
implementation of market-specific, high-performance
laboratory information management systems (LIMS).