Contract research organisations (CROs)
Companies that run clinical trials for sponsors: sites, monitoring, data, and regulatory filing.
IQVIA, ICON (including PRA), Parexel, Fortrea (ex-Labcorp), Syneos, Medpace, PPD (Thermo Fisher), and Charles River (preclinical) execute the majority of industry oncology trials. Oncology is the largest CRO therapeutic segment; capabilities in biomarker-driven enrolment, imaging core labs (e.g. ICON Medical Imaging, Calyx), and China/Asia site networks differentiate. Consolidation and AI-driven site selection are current trends.
How it works
Outsourced trial operations under sponsor oversight: feasibility, site management, monitoring, pharmacovigilance, biostatistics, and submission.
- Global reach and scale
- Specialised oncology expertise
- Cost
- Sponsor oversight burden
- Enrolment delays remain the norm
Latest papers
topQuery for this technology: (TITLE:"Contract research organisations" OR ABSTRACT:"Contract research organisations" OR TITLE:"CROs" OR ABSTRACT:"CROs") AND (cancer OR tumor OR tumour OR oncology OR carcinoma OR lymphoma OR leukemia OR leukaemia OR myeloma OR sarcoma OR melanoma OR glioma). Results are unfiltered search hits about Contract research organisations (CROs), not a curated reading list.