Specialty CROs Market

Specialty CROs Market, 2016-2025 was published in February 12, 2016 by Roots Analysis. 

The biopharmaceutical industry has been witnessing a significant paradigm shift in R&D outsourcing over the last few years. Specialty CROs have emerged as credible players in the market to overcome the shortcomings of full service / traditional CROs. The concept of speciality CROs continues to evolve as these organizations adopt new strategies to provide their sponsors improved services in terms of both quality and efficiency.

Considering that a major proportion of revenues for large CROs is generated by big pharma companies, gaps exist when it comes to providing services to smaller pharma / biotech companies. Specifically, they often fail to align their efforts to meet the requirements of low key sponsors / start-ups. Specialty CROs, on the other hand, specialize in niche areas catering to either specific clinical / preclinical services or providing services in a particular disease area. Typically outsourced services include data management, site monitoring and project management but nowadays core services such as pharmacovigilance, target evaluation, formulation development, cell line development, toxicology studies and medical imaging are also being outsourced to these CROs. 

Despite the widening array of services offered by these CROs, they have found it challenging to gain a higher share in the market, which is currently dominated by larger and more well-established players. However, they have created an opportunity by offering improved, customized and relatively economical services to newer / smaller clients in the sector. Novel business models and strategic partnerships among established and emerging players have opened new avenues to effectively tackle issues such as rising development costs, inefficient protocols and unorganized business processes.

As the demand of novel therapies for various therapeutic areas is expected to rise steadily, the market is optimistic about the future of these smaller research firms, which have driven an innovative approach to drug research and development. There are a number of upcoming opportunities that can enrich the service portfolio of speciality CROs gradually strengthening their presence in an otherwise consolidated market. 

It is worth highlighting that despite the fact that established pharmaceutical companies have in-house R&D and clinical development capabilities, the opportunity for speciality CROs is growing. The future evolution of this market will be primarily driven by the relatively fast paced growth of the overall pharma industry and the innovations / developments taking place in R&D.