Redefining sourcing model terminology

The journey to a comparative assessment of outsourcing models.

The way we source has rapidly outpaced the terms we use to describe and define it, creating a need for a new industry-wide framework to better understand and engage these models. ICON, with Tufts CSDD and a consortium of pharmaceutical partners, have researched and proposed a new framework which we can use to benchmark the efficacy of certain models.

The CRO landscape has changed significantly in the last few years, with considerable shifts in market share as CROs mature and major evolution in the way we work. According to the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development (CSDD) Impact Report for November/December 2022, the CRO market continues to grow with nearly $50b of total spend in the drug development industry allocated to contract clinical services. Nearly 60% of global spending in clinical development is for outsourced services, and that percentage is growing faster than that of the non-outsourced areas of clinical development spending.

Outpacing old definitions and outlining new ones

As sponsor company operating models have continued to evolve and adapt, the terminology and definitions we use to discuss these sourcing strategies have remained unchanged for nearly twenty years. The original definitions of FSO and FSP have not been adapted and terms like “full service” are commonly used as a generic catch-all, stretched to cover a growing industry and adding to the confusion and uncertainty.

The underlying differentiators across the various iterations of the FSO and FSP services is really the level of employment of the CRO’s infrastructure, processes and standard operating procedures (SOPs). Depending on the size, configuration, portfolio and in-house capacities of sponsor companies, different models or combinations of models may be utilised. Based on this reality, we have proposed a new framework to provide clarity in characterising sourcing models that accounts for the variety in responsibilities and accountability across sourcing models.

Building benchmarks

ICON collaborated with Tufts to research and develop this new framework, and we leveraged our relationships with 18 of our biopharmaceutical company Partners of Choice to garner real-world input and capture the breadth of sourcing models used by some of the top companies. From this framework, we can create consistency in terminology across the industry which we can utilise to better evaluate the value propositions of each model across the lifecycle of a development project.

Read the full blog here.