Outsourcing spend increases with Phase II budgets leading the way, study

The study, conducted by Cutting Edge Information, revealed that pharmaceutical companies outsourced 63 per cent of their Phase II clinical budgets in 2011, up from 36 per cent in 2008.

Some 32 per cent of these budgets are spent on patient recruitment, with vendor fees accounting for 25 per cent, site management and IT costs taking up 14 and 12 per cent, respectively. Patient retention at Phase II account for just 2 per cent of pharma firm outsourcing spend.

The increase in Phase II outsourcing is in contrast with Phase I and III trials, which increased from 35 to 58 per cent and 46 per cent to 55 per cent, respectively, of total investment over the same time period.

Study author Ryan McGuire suggested that clinical outsourcing is indicative of the lack of in-house capacity at pharmaceutical firms.

“Companies are less equipped today to manage and execute the increasingly complex details of clinical trial operations. In years past, in-house teams could execute successfully from start to finish without much outside help.”