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Auftragsforschungsinstitute (CROs) in Deutschland

Leistungsangebot, Umsätze, Outsourcing von Forschung und Entwicklung

Dr. Bertram Häussler a und Prof. Dr. Christof Helberger b

CSG Clinische Studien Gesellschaft mbH a, Berlin, und Lehrstuhl für Wirtschaftsund Sozialpolitik an der Technischen Universität Berlin b

In contrast to its importance as a market for pharmaceutical products, Germany is only of moderate importance as a site for the clinical testing of new drugs. The is increasingly teaken as a challenge. However, for suppliers of specialised services for the research and development (R&D) of pharmaceuticals (such as contract research organisations, CROs), only very limited information about the German market is available. The following article aims to shed some light on the current and future market situation. It is based on an extensive literature review combined with a set of future projections based on available data.
It is estimated, that the German pharmaceutical industry spent about 6.6 billion DM (around 3.3 billion $) in 2000 for R&D. 2.5 billion DM (1.25 billion $) of this sum were used for clinical and 1.1 billion DM (550 million $) were used for preclinical research. In the same year, CROs operating in Germany had a combined turnover of 870 million DM. Outsourced R&D therefore accounts for about 24 % of the total. In the second half of the 1990ies, an annual increase of about 1 % for CRO products could be observed.
Given the rising R&D expenditures in the pharmaceutical industry in the years to come, an increasing demand for CRO services is highly likely. Moreover, it is reasonable to assume that the percent-age of outsourced R&D will rise. The extent to which CROs will be able to substitute industry’s R&D depends mainly on their ability to recruit qualified physicians, to attract patients and to manage data fast and reliable. These capacities form the basis for CROs to be more efficient than in-house R&D departments in the industry. Cooperation with office-based physicians will become increasingly important for the clinical testing of drugs.