When it comes to developing a new drug or testing a device, you, as a sponsor, can either partner with biopharma companies or a Contract Research Organization (CRO) to perform clinical trials.

However, you should not forget that a pharmaceutical company might not be well-equipped to perform trials at a large scale. This is why partnering with a CRO makes much more sense because they have a team of experts and scientists who are particularly trained to perform such trials.

To give you a better understanding of how this partnership works, here we list three pros and cons of working with a Contract Research Organization for a clinical trial.

Pros

Sponsors can assign most of their duties to CROs

One of the best reasons why sponsors prefer working with Contract Research Organizations is that they can assign all their duties to the CRO team. This enables the sponsors to perform a clinical trial even when they cannot be there to monitor the trials.

However, for this, you need to work with a reliable and efficient CRO team so that you get the desired results with the fastest possible turnaround time.

The necessary resources are already in place

The biggest advantage of partnering with a Contract Research Organization is that they already have a robust team that is ready to come onboard. They have all the necessary resources in place, be it the team for data collection and management, trial candidates, scientists and so on.

As a result, you can get on-demand services, where you do not have to end up waiting for months or probably more than a year just for the team to get set up. This saves both time and money for you.

They help you with their global reach

When you plan to market your drug in a new country, it is mandatory to conduct a clinical research study in that country before making any moves. Now, this can be a costly affair for any sponsor but partnering with a CRO with a global reach helps the cause significantly because they have facilities and teams located in different parts of the world.

As a result, you get immediate access to a global audience without having to spend a large amount of money to set up a team from scratch.

Cons

Dealing with consequences because of the lapse from CRO

As mentioned above, delegating all the duties to a CRO is a great benefit but it can also act as a major bane, if you do not partner with the right CRO. You cannot have any assurance that the trials will be completed on time or you will get the results with no flaws. One should not forget that, at the end of the day, it is the sponsor who has to deal with the consequences even if the CRO falters with their work.

Therefore, you can choose to partner with a renowned company like Jubilant Biosys that provides comprehensive drug discovery services to global industries through its locations across India and the USA.

Difficulty in communication at times

As sponsors, you would not be able to oversee everything that goes in a trial and that is exactly why you hire a CRO team at the first place. However, the downside to this is that there can be a lack of communication between you two and it becomes even more of an issue when the trial is on a large scale with hundreds and thousands of people involved in it.

Requires multiple audits

A Contract Research Organization deals with multiple clinical trials and as a result, can end up juggling their resources from one project to another based on the requirement. As a sponsor, you might have to do multiple audits during the timer period of a trial to ensure that your project is not jeopardized due to such activities.

Essentially, this is more of a “must-haves” than a con because performing such audits will ensure that you get the desired results.

Final Thoughts

When parenting with a CRO, the cons need not be a huge problem if you work with an efficient and trust-worthy Contract Research Organization in India like Jubilant Biosys, that offer flexible business models and quality solutions incorporated with the best practices. Hence, you should make sure that you make the decision on that front.

Ulani Uriah

Umar Nisar was born and raised in the busy city of Abbottabad. As a journalist, Umar Nisar has contributed to many online publications including PAK Today and the Huffing Post. In regards to academics, Umar Nisar earned a degree in business from the Abbottabad UST, Havelian. Umar Nisar follows the money and covers all aspects of emerging tech here at The Hear Up.

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