This phenomenon began in the late 1980s with a spate of drug company mergers, including Beecham Group and Smith Kline Beckman, Bristol-Myers Co. and Squibb Corp., and Dow Chemical Co. and Marion Laboratories. Corning and Quintiles, for example, both have purchased toxicology laboratories, and, as Flamenbaum points out, toxicology testing may well be considered a CRO function. John Noble notes the difference in size between large drug companies and CROs. One obvious characteristic is the size of the operation. Most CROs are small.
Clinical work includes implementing the sponsor's research design and monitoring clinical trials.
Judith Dien says drug firms can save with clinical research. Many pharmaceutical companies have CRAs on staff, as do some of the larger CROs. But CRAs also may work as freelancers, contracting with pharmaceutical companies or CROs. A full-service CRO will be able to provide all of these benefits to a client. However, most CROs are not full-service.