Pharma clinical trial services market will reach $30.6 billion in 2015

Monday 4 March 2013, Amsterdam

A new report predicts that the world market for pharma clinical trial services will be worth $30.6bn in 2015. Between 2011 and 2017, the global market will grow with a high single digit CAGR. Demand for late phase trial services will drive growth to 2023. Those findings appear in Pharma Clinical Trial Services: World Market 2013-2023, published in January 2013.

Throughout the 10-year forecast period, late-stage trials will account for the greatest proportion of revenues for clinical research organisations (CROs). In the first half of the forecast period, lifecycle management strategies, demands from regulators for post-marketing safety studies and pharma co economic data will drive growth in that industry.

Richard Lang, a pharmaceutical industry analyst said: “In the last decade, demand for outsourced clinical trial services grew rapidly as pharma pipelines grew and trials became increasingly large and complex. Drug developers built up large, complex networks of service providers, which they are now seeking to simplify. They are looking to form strategic partnerships with a select few CROs covering long-term development projects.

“CROs must expand to offer a one-stop shop for pharmaceutical clients in order to take advantage of these strategic partnerships. They will look to new technology, including e-clinical tools, to improve their service offerings, as well as expanding into emerging markets. Many leading CROs established bases in BRIC nations in the last decade. In this decade, growth for these CROs will be focused on building upon the service portfolio in these markets, as well as entering new emerging markets in Asia, Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe.”

Opportunities for growth in this decade for small CROs will stem from specialisation. Demand for biomarker validation services offers one potential niche area in which all larger CROs have yet to invest heavily. Therapeutic specialisation offers another opportunity to these companies. Cancer, cardiovascular diseases and CNS disorders accounted for more than half of clinical trial service revenues in 2011. Strong growth is expected in all three sectors of the market in this decade, driven by rising disease incidence and unmet treatment needs. There were close to 1,000 cancer drugs in clinical development in 2012, with many more in pre-clinical development.

The new study forecasts the leading national pharma clinical trials service markets. In 2011, the US and Western Europe dominated the market, accounting for more than three quarters of global revenues. During this decade, however, pharmaceutical clients will increasingly demand trial services in emerging countries. Lower costs and large treatment-naïve patient populations will drive this demand, as will access to rapidly emerging pharmaceutical markets. The market share for the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China) will triple during the period 2011-2023. The US will continue to be the largest market for clinical trial services throughout the decade however.

Pharma Clinical Trial Services: World Market 2013-2023 provides quantitative and qualitative analysis of the clinical trial services market. It shows revenue forecasts for world-level submarkets and national markets. Also, it identifies future trends that will affect market players.