CRO Update: Where are Contract Research Organizations Headed?

ABSTRACT

Goliath dynamic The CRO space has seen a flurry of merger and acquisition activity in recent years. 2016 saw the merger of IMS Health with Quintiles, resulting in the birth of IQVIA. "In a commoditized service area, scale is important, because it gives you a depth of business development and sales coverage in the market," Getz explains. John Kreger, an equity research analyst with William Blair in Chicago, IL, says the pharma industry's source of innovation has aggressively shifted from large pharmaceutical companies to small biotech startups. Coldwell says most CROs will forge partnership agreements with DCT software developers, but three or four of the world's largest CROs are building DCT technology in-house.