ICON announces results of new survey that examines key challenge of R&D efficiency

May 9 2018

ICON plc, a global provider of drug development solutions and services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries, today announced the results from a new survey of pharmaceutical executives and professionals by ICON and Pharma Intelligence, which examines the key challenge of declining research and development (R&D) efficiency.

A roundtable of pharmaceutical industry executives discussed the survey findings, alongside the key challenges affecting the pharmaceutical industry. The discussion enabled industry experts to identify the potential for generating savings and improving trial efficiency, as well as assessing how digital disruption is forcing change.

The challenges most frequently cited by survey respondents are patient enrolment (56%), site start-up (43%) and regulatory approval delays and changes (43%). Respondents also identified study start up, patient recruitment and retention, and protocol development as three key areas with the most potential for generating savings and efficiencies.

"ICON recognizes the challenges our customers are facing and is focused on building our integrated site and patient network to improve trial start up, as well as patient recruitment and retention." commented Dr. Steve Cutler, Chief Executive Officer, ICON, on the survey findings.

Opinions of which technology trends will have the greatest impact on clinical trial operations varied. 36% of survey respondents noted that leveraging big data and AI technologies would have the most impact on improving clinical trial efficiency. 35% reported that risk-based approaches toward monitoring held greater opportunity for impact on clinical development.

The survey demonstrates that industry have realized the need for a holistic effort to transform trials, however, only one in five survey respondents (22%) stated their organization currently has an integrated effort to drive clinical trials transformations. A further 83% of respondents believe strategic partnerships with CROs will be important to the success of clinical trials over the next five years.

Informed by the survey responses, the Improving Pharma R&D Efficiency whitepaper proposes a three-part framework for guiding strategy in transforming clinical trials.

• Adopting a radical patient focus;
• A greater use of adaptive clinical trials and other alternate trial models;
• Automating data collection and analysis

The whitepaper argues that while adopting disparate tactics can improve elements of clinical trial efficiency, the potential is even greater when change is applied in a coordinated fashion to reimagine and reinvent the R&D enterprise.