Clinical Trials Support Services Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

Clinical Trials Support Services Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The clinical trial support services market is expected to register a CAGR of 7.5% during the forecast period (2022-2027).

COVID-19 has affected almost every sector and so had a substantial effect on the clinical trial support services market across the globe. The restrictions and lockdown imposed by the government across the globe to avoid the spread of coronavirus have resulted in the suspension of most non-COVID-related clinical trials. For instance, according to a research article by Emma Wilkinson published in the Journal - The Lancet in February 2021, there was a 60% decrease in new cancer clinical trials and biological therapies during the COVID-19 pandemic 2020. Thus, the decrease in the number of clinical trials has further suspended the clinical trial services for the same which had a negative impact on the market. However, with the increasing number of COVID cases, the demand for developing better and more effective drugs is rising which is expected to increase the demand for clinical trial support services for providing preclinical ground and research including patient recruiting, support for clinical test sites, management of databases and clinical site and others, which is expected to augment the market growth. Also, with the resumed services and releasing restrictions on COVID-19, the companies and organizations are resuming their clinical trials which are expected to increase the demand for clinical trial support services, thereby boosting the market growth over the forecast period.

The major factors propelling the growth of the market are increasing demand for clinical trials in the emerging markets owing to the high burden of chronic and infectious diseases, high research, and development spending of pharmaceutical companies, and an increasing number of contract research organizations, and the prevalence of diseases.

The rising prevalence of chronic, infectious, and tropical diseases in emerging countries is creating numerous unmet needs for developing novel drugs for the treatment, which requires conducting clinical trials. For instance, according to an article published in May 2022, titled “State of Indian, Clinical Research Articles”, India approved over 100 global clinical trials in 2021 as compared to 95 and 76 in 2019 and 2018, respectively. Similarly, according to an article published in January 2022, titled “Practices and Trends in Clinical Trial Registration in the Pan African Clinical Trials Registry (PACTR): A Descriptive Analysis of Registration Data”, the registration of clinical trials on Pan African Clinical Trials Registry (PACTR) increasing year on year and reached 606 trials in 2020. Hence, with the growing number of clinical trials in the emerging market, the demand for clinical trial support services is expected to increase over the forecast period which is anticipated to fuel the growth of the studied market. In addition, the number of individuals suffering from insulin resistance, hyperlipidemia, and obesity is also increasing rapidly in these regions which are expected to conduct clinical trials for effective medications and treatment, which is further expected to drive the growth in the clinical trials support services market.

Furthermore, various organizations are developing clinical data management tools and systems to handle massive volumes of data. For instance, in February 2021, Clinical Solutions launched the Elluminate clinical trial management system that facilitates quicker and more informed decision-making. Thus, the recent development to manage the data and services for clinical trials are likely to increase the demand for clinical trial support services, thereby propelling the market growth. Moreover, the research and development (R&D) spending of pharmaceutical companies has been steadily increasing over the past few years which is expected to develop new systems and databases to manage the services and information related to clinical trials, thereby fueling the growth of the studied market. For instance, according to the Pfizer Inc. annual report for 2022, their research and development expenditure has increased over the years from USD 9,393 million in 2020 to USD 13,829 million in 2021. Therefore, the increasing spending by companies on research and development activities to accelerate the development of drugs through clinical trials is also expected to have a significant impact on the growth of the studied market and the clinical trials support services market is expected to grow. Therefore, owing to the above-mentioned factors, the clinical trials support services market is expected to grow over the forecast period of the study. However, the lack of adequate regulatory frameworks for conducting clinical trials in some countries and stringent regulations for patient enrollment is likely to restrain the market growth over the forecast period.

Key Market TrendsPhase III is Anticipated to be the Growing Segment During the Forecast Period

Clinical trials in phase III test the novel treatment's efficacy and safety to the accepted standard of care. Phase 3 trials are primarily concerned with proving and confirming the preliminary data from the earlier trials that the drug is a safe, useful, and effective treatment for the specified indication. These Phase III clinical trials are done to evaluate the comparative effect of the new medication over the previous medications available or conducted to confirm and expand on safety and effectiveness results from Phase I and II trials. Due to their greater complexity and need for a larger patient pool, these clinical trials remain a comparatively higher need for outsourcing services than Phase II and Phase I trials.

The market is expected to be dominated by Phase III as it is one of the most critical phases in assessing the effectiveness of the new intervention, as well as its value in clinical practice. In addition, Phase III trials are the most expensive and frequently call for longer treatment times and a larger patient population where clinical trials support services can be highly utilized thus, owing to the commencement of a high number of Phase III clinical trials and its importance, the demand for clinical trials support services are expected to increase and that is anticipated to boost market growth over the forecast period. For instance, in December 2021, Navidea Biopharmaceuticals launched the NAV3-33 Phase 3 clinical trial titled “Evaluation of Tc99m Tilmanocept Imaging for the Early Prediction of Anti-TNFα Therapy Response in Patients with Moderate to Severe Active Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)”, and as per the company, this Phase III clinical trial will establish the ability of Tc99m tilmanocept imaging to serve as an early predictor of treatment response in rheumatoid arthritis (“RA”) patients switching to an anti-TNFα therapy. Moreover, government initiatives in emerging economies to promote drug discovery and continuous technological innovations are also expected to propel market growth. Therefore, owing to the above-mentioned factors, the Phase III segment is expected to have a significant market share in the clinical trials support services market over the forecast period.

North America Region Holds the Largest Market Share of Clinical Trials Support Services Market

North America is found to be one of the largest markets for global clinical trial support services owing to the maximum number of pharmaceutical firms based in the United States to conduct most of their business and clinical trials, increasing research and development investments and growing demand for drug development.

With the rising COVID-19 pandemic, an increased burden has shifted the focus of many organizations to the development of new therapeutics for COVID-19 with the support of the government and non-government organizations. Hence, with the rising number of COVID-19 infections, there are increasing investments in R&D activities that have led to a growing market for clinical trial support services.

In addition, the region accounts for the largest number of projects in the Phase II trial in 2020, and this trend led to high investments in R&D by industry and other out-of-industry sponsors. For instance, according to the clinical trials, a logistic study conducted in 2021, around 60% of phase II clinical trials are outsourced. The number of phase 2 trial studies has increased as a result of creative combinations of authorized and novel medicines due to the high concentration of pharmaceutical leaders. Furthermore, the high prevalence of cancer in the United States led to the high investment in research and development which is also contributing to the increasing demand for clinical trial support services which is expected to augment the market growth. For instance, Cancer.Org Cancer Facts and Figure accounted for 609,360 new cancer cases in 2022 which was 0.12 % higher than reported in 2021. Thus, an increasing incidence of cancer cases reported every year in North America is driving the clinical trial support services market in that region. Moreover, owing to the trend of clinical trial outsourcing, the clinical trial site management services, for managing offshore operations have witnessed rapid growth.

Competitive Landscape

The clinical trials support services market is moderately competitive. The increasing product launches, partnerships, collaborations, agreements, and market expansions are the key strategies adopted by players to grow and expand their presence in the clinical trial support services market. The major players include Alcura Health, Charles River Laboratories, Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (Covance Inc.), Eurofins Scientific, ICON PLC, Parexel International, PPD Inc., WuXi PharmaTech, etc.

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