Commercializing Clinical Trials -- Risks and Benefits of the CRO Boom

Abstract

According to the clinical-trials information company Thomson CenterWatch, CROs played a substantial role in 64% of phase 1, 2, and 3 clinical studies in 2003 (for about $7.6 billion in contracts), as compared with 28% in 1993 (for $1.6 billion) (see Figure 2 ).1 But some recent events have raised questions about whether the commercialization of clinical trials, in its current form, is in the best interest of science or the public.