Breaking News on Contract Research, Manufacturing & Clinical Trials

Icon living up to its name

By Kirsty Barnes, 23-Oct-2007

Related topics: Phase I-II, Phase III-IV, Clinical Development

Icon is living up to its name, according to a recent contract research organisation (CRO) survey, which also recognised Quintiles and PPD in terms of quality performance.

The Irish-based CRO was most frequently mentioned favourite vendor in a CRO quality survey recently published by William Blair & Company. Icon received 13 total mentions, with Quintiles getting 11 and PPD with nine. Although when it came to being listed as number one in this regard, it was Quintiles that actually came top with six votes, while Icon and PPD received four each.

 

 

 

The three top metrics for defining quality in a CRO were listed by respondents as ability to deliver within timelines, quality deliverables and maintaining budget.

 

 

 

"It appears that as long as the CRO completes the study on time with clean data, the client will usually be happy", said William Blair, who has conducted this survey for the past three years.

 

 

 

"Price continues to be cited much less frequently than timelines and quality, countering the view of industry skeptics that pharma outsourcing is a commodity."

 

 

 

The firm admitted that the sample size in the survey was limited at only 21, but that it had deliberately restricted responses to one per biopharma company, in order to "limit the ability of the views of one manufacturer to skew the results".

 

 

"We continue to be surprised with the resistance of pharma and biotech companies to

 

participate in such surveys, despite their vested interest in the results. The reluctance, we believe, stems from a view that development strategy and vendors is proprietary and a desire to avoid confrontation with vendors (no one wants to go on record criticising)", the firm added.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, 62 per cent of those surveyed said they expected outsourcing to increase in the next two years, down slightly from the 66 per cent indicated by those who responded to the survey last year.

 

 

 

At the same time, ninety per cent of responders said that price was increasing, up from 70 per cent last year. "This should bode well for industry margins and is consistent with a strong demand environment, in our view", said William Blair.

 

 

 

The firm also said that the survey confirmed that the CRO sector continues to be fragmented, with over 34 companies being mentioned as part of various responses.

 

 

 

"This tells us there remains plenty of market share to win if a company can clearly differentiate itself on quality."

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