Outsourcing drug development to Asia: An increasingly lucrative strategy

As biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies face escalating research costs and shrinking revenue, many are shifting clinical operations to Asia, where a rapidly expanding healthcare infrastructure and growing patient population have created ideal conditions for low-cost drug development. Asia contains nearly 60% of the world’s population but only 17% of clinical trials, based on 2016 data from ClinicalTrials.gov.

Improved perception of the industry

The 2017 Global Pharmaceutical Reptrak study, prepared each year by Boston’s Reputation Institute, showed that the public’s perception of the pharmaceutical industry has improved, earning an industry score of 71.8, up from 68.2 in 2016. Furthermore, about 44% of respondents viewed the industry as having an excellent reputation, a seven point increase since 2016. Similarly, the number of respondents who perceived the industry as weak or poor declined, moving to 26% from 35% in 2016.

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