Drug companies spend about 37% of their overall R&D budgets on clinical affairs

Jun 23 2004

On average, drug companies spend about 37% of their overall R&D budgets on clinical affairs, according to a new report, "Accelerating Clinical Trials: Budgets, Patient Recruitment and Productivity", recently published by pharmaceutical intelligence firm Cutting Edge Information.

Over the last decade, clinical services industry growth has exploded. Today, study sponsors dedicate significant portions of their budgets to CROs, SMOs and patient recruiters to access the expertise needed to speed trials to safe and successful fruition.

"Accelerating Clinical Trials: Budgets, Patient Recruitment and Productivity," available online at http://www.AcceleratedClinicalTrials.com , discusses how companies, more concerned with accelerating the clinical process than cutting budgets, have ramped up investment in overseas clinical trials in Eastern and Central Europe, India, China and South America. In these places, it is much easier to find eager investigators and abundant patient populations, and it is sometimes less expensive to run trials.

"The drive to accelerate clinical trials in the US and Europe, coupled with fierce competition for increasingly fewer patients, means there likely is no end in sight for the rising cost of clinical trials," said Jon Hess, senior analyst at Cutting Edge Information. "Companies will continue to favor spending on process expertise and technology if it helps them get their drugs to market faster."

"Accelerating Clinical Trials: Budgets, Patient Recruitment and Productivity" is a comprehensive report featuring metrics and business practices from several top industry pharmaceutical companies. Among the companies profiled are AstraZeneca, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Roche, Eli Lilly, Parexel, Quintiles and Wyeth. The report, available at http://www.AcceleratedClinicalTrials.com, also reveals the following data to help clinical affairs planners refine strategy and streamline operations:

• 2004 clinical affairs budgets
• Investigator meeting budgets
• Per-patient clinical costs by phase and therapeutic area
• Clinical trial performance measures
• Clinical outsourcing spending patterns