January 2010 – The CenterWatch Monthly

2009: Light at the End of a Tough Year

2009 was a difficult year in the clinical trial space as CROs and sites contended with a half dozen pharmaceutical company mergers, project cancellations and tighter study budgets. Some investigators went out of business. But there was also opportunity amid the turmoil and hope that things were turning around late in the year with pharmaceutical companies ramping up R&D again.

Medical Device Outsourcing Grows as U.S., EU Regs Become Stricter

Global medical device outsourcing is expected to reach $26.7 billion by 2014, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 13.9% from 2009 to 2014. While regulatory services has become one of the fastest growing areas, CROs have seen increasing demand for a full range of clinical services, including study design, patient recruitment, monitoring and data management as large medical device companies have shifted to a full outsourcing model.

European Acquisition Ends 2009 with a Bang

Despite the global economic downturn, 2009 began on a promising note as European contract research organizations (CROs) merged or acquired U.S. companies, and one global CRO made a big play in Central and Eastern Europe.

Eye On: Infectious Disease

While the development of antibiotics represents a major milestone in the history of medicine, therapeutic progress in the area of infectious diseases has been hindered by rapid development of microbial resistance to available pharmacotherapy. Widespread global travel, overcrowding and poor sanitary conditions in underdeveloped countries has also contributed to recent increases in the morbidity and mortality of infectious diseases...

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