ASIA: Preferred destination for clinical trials

Globally clinical trials are expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.4 percent to reach USD57 billion in revenue in 2020 from USD31.8 billion in 2015. During 2015-2020, while the CRO market in North America is expected to grow at 10.4 percent CAGR, the Asia Pacific CRO market is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 19.9 percent. The key drivers for this growth are increased R&D activity and shift toward outsourcing. More than three-quarters of R&D spending by biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies can be potentially outsourced. There is a significant increase in the CRO market, through increased outsourcing alone with penetration expected to increase from 29 percent in 2015 to 43 percent in 2020. Asian growth is expected to be even higher as clinical trial penetration in Asia in 2015 was even lower than the global penetration, at around 15 percent.