transforming the business of clinical trials

Clinical Trials

As profitability and regulatory compliance pressures increase in the clinical trials industry, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are looking to maximize their research & development spending; particularly through the reduction of clinical trial cycle times and focusing on core competencies. Investigative sites are impacted by these pressures as well, and are faced with the challenge of maintaining a stable financial environment, as the protocols get more complicated and regulatory requirements increase. CFS specializes in providing financial management solutions to the clinical trials industry that enable sponsors to improve quality, focus on core competencies, shorten clinical trial cycle times and reduce cost; while helping investigative sites improve their cash flow, more efficiently manage revenue and accounts receivable, and maintain the sites viability for future participation in research programs.

The execution of investigative site contracts, as well as the timely administration of the associated grant payments, are critical to the study initiation and completion process; and directly impact the sponsor/investigator relationship. Several industry publications have highlighted issues with these processes

  • Only one investigator in five is highly satisfied with grant payment promptness according to the CenterWatch 2005 State of the Industry Report
  • 52% of investigative sites say that contract and budget negotiation and approval is the top cause of study delay according to a 2005 CenterWatch survey of over 600 sites.
  • Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP) states “providing/receiving grant payment is the single most inefficient activity in study conduct” in their 2002 White Paper.
  • Only 10% of the Accounts Payable process is outsourced for Clinical Trials compared to approximately 74% of all U.S. companies that outsource these services, according to a PriceWaterhouseCoopers Barometer Survey in 2004

Based on the data in these publications it is clear that the investigator site contract and grant payment processes are fundamentally broken. The core competency of CFS is the financial management of clinical trials, making CFS uniquely qualified to address these issues by offering best-in-class financial management solutions to pharmaceutical sponsors, biotech companies, clinical research organizations, and investigative sites.