LIST OF
CONTRACT RESEARCH ORGANISATIONS (CROs)
1. PPD
Pharmaceutical Product Development (PPD) is a leading CRO that operates in 48
countries across the globe. They are considered a premium CRO provider for
many pharma and biotech companies globally. In May 2019, PPD was recognised
by biotech industry leaders as top supplier based on their capability,
compatibility and expertise in assisting clinical research programmes.
After acquiring Evidera in 2016, PPD solidified itself as a leader in real-world
research. The company has leveraged Evidera’s real-world evidence expertise to
provide life science companies with an increasingly crucial element of the clinical
development process, helping PPD to remain competitive.
2. MedPace
A mid-sized CRO, MedPace focuses on clinical research for drugs and devices
globally. Unlike many of the larger CROs, MedPace have not invested time and
effort in acquisitions but instead chosen to reinvest in their own workforce. This
has led to them experiencing growth organically rather than externally by
acquiring other well-established CROs. They have a focus on an office-based
culture, which is certainly interesting in the ever-evolving CRO business which is
heavily home-based.
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3. Clintec
Clintec was a Scottish women-owned independent CRO, before its acquisition
by IQVIA, that specialises in oncology and rare disease clinical research services.
The company is medium-sized but has a global reach across 50 countries,
including several emerging markets such as Sub-Saharan Africa. Clintec has
enjoyed annual growth of 55% since 2017 and is one of the fastest-growing CROs
in the UK.
Despite its acquisition by CRO giant IQVIA the company has continued to
operate quite independently. It will be interesting to see whether Clintec follow
in the steps of Novella which was acquired by the group in 2013. Novella
operated independently for many years and was rebranded as IQVIA Biotech in
2018. Clintec’s ethos has remained largely unchanged and there seems to be a
scope for movement and autonomy, bolstered by the support of their giant CRO
parent company.
4. PRA Health Sciences
PRA is an American CRO established in 1982 but was only brought public
following it’s acquisition by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts in 2014. PRA’s drive toward
international markets has grown since the company went public, with a specific
focus on Singapore, China and other regional sectors. In 2018, the company was
named best CRO in Asia by BioPharm Asia and in the same year, their global
coverage expanded to 85 countries.
PRA has an excellent company culture, with a low staff turnover compared with
other big CRO players in the industry. The company’s growing impact on the
industry is mostly thanks to it’s pioneering of the unique ‘embedded’
outsourcing model after acquiring ReSearch Pharmaceutical Services Inc (RPS)
in 2013. This model, which recruits specialists before integrating them within
their clients, is thought to be the future of the industry and is helping PRA
differentiate its service within a very competitive landscape.
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5. KCR
KCR is a boutique CRO that has spent the last few years expanding through
Europe, including Germany and UK, finding its feet and creating a more
manageable presence. Last year, KCR opened their operations in the USA and
has really begun to bid for business. Their growing impact on the industry is the
pride they take in a human approach, with a belief that there is a human behind
every number. KCR’s services are closely related to patient data and patient
recruitment and it will be interesting to see them continue to develop rapidly in
this space.
6. ICON
This top-tier CRO posted revenues of $2.4 billion in 2018 – an impressive 7.9%
increase since 2017 - and has completed a series of acquisitions in recent years,
including ICHOM, Genomics England and most recently, MolecularMD in early
2019. In 2016 Icon partnered with Genomics England on the UKs 100,000
Genomes Project, and IBM Watson for oncology research support to further
expand service offerings and clinical research jobs in the genomic science and
oncology sectors.
7. IQVIA
The company adopted the name IQVIA in 2017 following the merger of Quintiles
and information and technology group IMS, which offers their clients an end-to-
end clinical and commercial service. It is currently the largest CRO in the world,
with a $10.4 billion revenue in 2018. After a string of further acquisitions of
smaller specialist companies, the company is going from strength to strength
and are truly at the forefront of the CRO world. This is particularly true in the
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real-world evidence and data space. Currently the services they provide are
unparalleled by other leading CROs but it is worth watching how IQVIA will
navigate emerging key drivers of the industry, such as digital health and artificial
intelligence.
8. PSI
PSI is a fast growing CRO that specialises in a range of fields such as oncology,
haematology, infectious diseases and multiple sclerosis. The company has a very
close-knit culture and their leading philosophy was established by the
CEO/Founder - to create a CRO that he himself would like to work with.
Originally a European head-quartered CRO, PSI quickly expanded into the USA
and has operated there for 14 years. However, since 2017 the company has
further globalised their business into the APAC region, opening offices in
Australia and South Korea in 2017 and most recently, India and Hong Kong.
9. Parexel
In 2018, industry giant Parexel achieved $2.4 billion in revenues as it pursues
cost-controlling measures and expansion into lower-cost emerging markets.
while simultaneously forging partnerships with Eli Lilly to develop clinical
research in China, and SHYFT to deliver better real-world data studies. In 2017,
Parexel was bought by Pamplona, a private equity firm, which has served to
bolster their profit margin as well as the quality of their market-leading services
to biotechnology companies across the globe.
10. Covance
Purchased by LabCorp in early 2015, Covance boasted annual revenues greater
than $2.5 billion before its acquisition, and now achieves full year revenue of
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$11.3 billion in 2018. Covance’s future looks brighter still following its
acquisition of top 10 CRO Chiltern in 2017, which is a specialist oncology
organisation and will bring cancer patients innovative medicines faster. The
acquisition has planted Covance as a leader in the oncology space and will
enable the company to work with a wide and interesting range of oncology
clients.
11. Syneos Health
INC Research Holdings, Inc, a global Contract Research Organization CRO, an
inVentiv Health, Inc a privately held global CRO and Contract Commercial
Organization (“CCO”), announced their merger. “The only fully integrated
biopharmaceutical solutions organization. The company, including a Contract
Research Organization (CRO) and Contract Commercial Organization (CCO), is
purpose-built to accelerate customer performance to address modern market
realities”. Syneos Health pronounces about their merge.
Currently, Syneos Health has more than 21,000 clinical and commercial minds
that support customers in more than 110 countries. The company has recorded
its revenues at USD2.672 billion, an increase of nearly 65.96% from the previous
year.
12. Charles River Laboratories
Ranked seventh is Charles River Laboratories, a 71-year-old publicly-listed, US
company, which claims to have worked on 80% of the drugs approved by the
FDA in 2017. Its revenue for 2017 totalled $1.86bn, representing a 10.47%
increase on 2016.
Charles River was ranked first in Igea Hub’s 2016 list, falling to ninth in 2017.
The company’s capabilities span the entire drug R&D process from basic
research to pre-clinical testing to manufacturing and commercialisation within
two major services: Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) and non-GLP. Charles River
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recently purchased Thermo Scientific’s Lab Vision Autostainer 720 to enhance
its immunohistochemistry automation capacities, thus reducing the time it takes
to run slides and the risk of batch variation.
13. WuXi Apptec
Chinese privately firm WuXi Apptec focuses on reducing the discovery and
development time for pharmaceutical and medical device products.
The company recorded a revenue of $1.01bn in 2017, and dropped one place
from the 2017 ranking; in 2016 its revenue was estimated to be $919.9m. It had
a service portfolio of five in both 2016 and 2017.
WuXi’s portfolio includes small molecules, biologics, cell and gene therapy and
genomics and it provides support to biotechnology and pharmaceutical
companies throughout the R&D process and into the commercialisation phase.
14. Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings
Laboratory Corporation of America was ranked at number one in Igea Hub’s list
of the top ten clinical research organisations with $10.44bn in revenue in 2017,
of which 12.14% was income. The company has 31 units in its service portfolio.
Laboratory Corporation of America is composed of two business segments:
LabCorp Diagnostics and Covance Drug Development. Covance is the portion
that focuses on clinical research; it provides services to help with drug
development throughout the clinical research process from early-stage research
to post-regulatory approval. Covance claims to have worked on all of the 50
best-selling drugs on the market using its range of clinical and commercialisation
services.
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