Clinical Trial Staff Size More Than Doubles

Pressures on the clinical development landscape from the recession, the patent cliff and shrinking pipelines has actually led to companies increasing the size of the average clinical research operations department, according to Cutting Edge Information.

In all phases of development the size has increased since 2008. Phase I staffing increased by 150%, while Phase II tripled and Phase III grew more than fourfold. Even Phase IV staffing increased by 85%.

A greater number of clinical research associations are being deployed to monitor clinical trial sites. More monitoring is necessary since companies are increasing the focus on clinical development in emerging markets. CRAs make up the single largest of clinical trial personnel.

According to CEI, this trend will likely continue as companies invest in clinical trial staffing in order to get better results.

“The boom in clinical trial staffing may yet provide the proverbial ‘shot in the arm’ to research productivity that every major company is building toward,” the study reports.

Increased monitoring can lead to R&D efficiency, which in turn leads to cost- and time-savings in order to beat competition to the market and add time to a drug’s lifecycle.