CRO Central Lab Expansion

The need to accelerate drug development has led to the rise of global clinical trials in search of large patient populations. Along with increasing trial complexity, which requires more esoteric testing to be done closer to the patient, this has spurred the CRO industry's recent central lab expansion initiatives. Market demand for central lab services has increased dramatically during the past few years, particularly in developing regions such as India and China. CROs are taking full-service to a whole new level, building up the global central lab in an effort to provide faster turnaround and seamless global data to pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical clients around the globe.

"MDS Pharma Services, the first CRO to establish a central lab in China, has had a presence for more than a decade in Beijing, where the business recently tripled its space and increased testing capacity five-fold," according to a company statement.

"Central labs are fully outsourced by the pharmaceutical industry and, unlike core CRO services, no pharmaceutical company has its own central lab," said Bob Scott-Edwards, president, ICON Central Labs. "The key drivers for central lab expansion are the same as for the CRO: more studies; more companies doing trials; the search for trial subjects; and the drive to complete registration dossiers for as many countries as possible as quickly as possible. CROs have become more interested in central lab services as a way of bundling their service offerings for their clients and providing a broad range of services."