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A Strategic Tool For Companies Who Outsource

The vetting process for selecting outsourcing partners is time consuming and complex. To support the process, Life Science Leader and Clinical Leader developed the CRO Leadership Awards in 2012. We think sponsor company opinions are important and credible — that’s why the awards are based on customer feedback. Winning CROs are chosen through impartial market research based on feedback from sponsor companies that utilize outsourcing services.

Primary market research by ISR Reports is the basis of the awards. Sponsors provide ratings of CROs based on recent outsourced projects. This experiential feedback is analyzed by sponsor company size to reveal leading CROs in different performance categories. For details on the research methodology, visit isrreports.com.

Would you like to participate in the research? Email your request to ISR.

More about ISR

2023 Winners

2023 Winners By Category & Respondent Group

CROs have an opportunity to win these awards in up to three groups of outsourcing respondents—Big Pharma, Small Pharma, and Overall (combined Big and Small Pharma). We also recognize those companies that scored one standard deviation or more above the weighted average in each of the core categories. You will see these companies noted as the Champions.

 

Champions

Overall

  • Innovaderm Research
  • Altasciences
  • CHDR

Big Pharma

  • Precision for Medicine

Small Pharma

  • Altasciences

Exceeded Customer Expectations

Overall

  • SGS Health Science
  • Precision for Medicine
  • Ora
  • Frontage Laboratories, Inc
  • Lambda Therapeutic Research
  • ICON
  • IQVIA
  • Caidya
  • Parexel International Corporation
  • Eurofins Scientific, S.E.
  • PPD clinical research business of Thermo Fisher Scientific
  • Medpace

Big Pharma

  • Frontage Laboratories, Inc
  • SGS Health Science
  • Medpace
  • Ora
  • IQVIA
  • Parexel International Corporation
  • PPD clinical research business of Thermo Fisher Scientific

Small Pharma

  • Eurofins Scientific, S.E.
  • Celerion
  • ICON
  • Lambda Therapeutic Research
  • Frontage Laboratories, Inc
  • PPD clinical research business of Thermo Fisher Scientific
  • IQVIA
  • Parexel International Corporation
  • Fortrea
  • Medpace

 

Champions

Overall

  • Innovaderm Research
  • SGS Health Science

Big Pharma

  • SGS Health Science
  • Frontage Laboratories, Inc
  • Precision for Medicine

Small Pharma

  • Eurofins Scientific, S.E.
  • Premier Research

Exceeded Customer Expectations

Overall

  • Frontage Laboratories, Inc
  • Premier Research
  • Rho
  • Precision for Medicine
  • Eurofins Scientific, S.E.
  • ICON
  • Medpace
  • Lambda Therapeutic Research
  • George Clinical
  • CHDR
  • Allucent
  • Parexel International Corporation
  • Novotech
  • Celerion
  • PPD clinical research business of Thermo Fisher Scientific

Big Pharma

  • ICON
  • Parexel International Corporation
  • IQVIA
  • Ora

Small Pharma

  • ICON
  • Celerion
  • Frontage Laboratories, Inc
  • Medpace
  • Rho
  • Precision for Medicine
  • Novotech
  • Lambda Therapeutic Research
  • Allucent
  • Parexel International Corporation
  • PPD clinical research business of Thermo Fisher Scientific

 

Champions

Overall

  • Innovaderm Research
  • CHDR
  • Ora

Big Pharma

  • Precision for Medicine
  • Ora

Exceeded Customer Expectations

Overall

  • Precision for Medicine
  • Premier Research
  • SGS Health Science
  • Frontage Laboratories, Inc
  • ICON
  • Lambda Therapeutic Research
  • Medpace
  • IQVIA
  • PSI CRO AG
  • Parexel International Corporation
  • Eurofins Scientific, S.E.

Big Pharma

  • SGS Health Science
  • Frontage Laboratories, Inc
  • IQVIA
  • Parexel International Corporation
  • ICON

Small Pharma

  • Premier Research
  • ICON
  • Eurofins Scientific, S.E.
  • Celerion
  • Medpace
  • Frontage Laboratories, Inc
  • Lambda Therapeutic Research
  • Worldwide Clinical Trials
  • IQVIA
  • Parexel International Corporation
  • PPD clinical research business of Thermo Fisher Scientific

 

Champions

Overall

  • Innovaderm Research

Big Pharma

  • Precision for Medicine

Exceeded Customer Expectations

Overall

  • Precision for Medicine
  • SGS Health Science
  • CHDR
  • Rho
  • Ora
  • ICON
  • Medpace
  • Frontage Laboratories, Inc
  • IQVIA
  • PSI CRO AG
  • Parexel International Corporation

Big Pharma

  • SGS Health Science
  • Frontage Laboratories, Inc
  • Ora
  • ICON
  • Parexel International Corporation
  • IQVIA

Small Pharma

  • Celerion
  • Medpace
  • ICON
  • Precision for Medicine
  • Eurofins Scientific, S.E.
  • Rho
  • IQVIA
  • Frontage Laboratories, Inc
  • Parexel International Corporation

 

Champions

Overall

  • Innovaderm Research
  • Precision for Medicine
  • SGS Health Science

Big Pharma

  • Precision for Medicine

Small Pharma

  • Eurofins Scientific, S.E.
  • Precision for Medicine

Exceeded Customer Expectations

Overall

  • Medpace
  • Premier Research
  • Eurofins Scientific, S.E.
  • ICON
  • Frontage Laboratories, Inc
  • CHDR
  • Lambda Therapeutic Research
  • PSI CRO AG
  • UBC
  • George Clinical
  • PPD clinical research business of Thermo Fisher Scientific
  • Parexel International Corporation

Big Pharma

  • SGS Health Science
  • Frontage Laboratories, Inc
  • ICON
  • Medpace
  • Parexel International Corporation
  • PPD clinical research business of Thermo Fisher Scientific

Small Pharma

  • Medpace
  • ICON
  • Premier Research
  • Celerion
  • Lambda Therapeutic Research
  • Frontage Laboratories, Inc
  • PPD clinical research business of Thermo Fisher Scientific

The Publication

Based on the research, award recipients are announced in Life Science Leader’s awards supplement – a resource for sponsors and CROs alike. The annual issue includes original editorial, outsourcing industry trends, and award-winning CRO profiles. Life Science Leader is a monthly publication available in digital and print through subscription.

The last awards supplement was published in June 2023.

 

Core Award Categories


1. Capabilities
2. Compatibility
3. Expertise
4. Quality
5. Reliability

Specialty Award Categories


1. Data Quality
2. Meeting Overall Project Timelines
3. Technology For Access To Data
4. Operational Excellence
5. Therapeutic Expertise

Survey Methodology: ISR's Contract Research Organization Quality Benchmarking research is conducted annually via an online survey. For the 2023 CRO Leadership Awards, 46 CROs were evaluated on more than 20 performance metrics. Research participants were recruited from biopharmaceutical companies of all sizes and were screened for decision-making influence and authority when it comes to working with CROs. Respondents only evaluated companies with which they had worked on an outsourced project within the past 18 months. This level of qualification ensures that ratings come from actual involvement with a business and that companies identified as leaders are backed by experiential data. CROs must meet the minimum threshold of customer survey responses to be eligible for an award.

The CRO Leadership Awards recognize top outsourcing partners, determined by feedback from sponsor companies who outsource clinical trials. The awards are presented by Clinical Leader, Life Science Leader, and Industry Standard Research. Clinical Leader provides a complex industry with a forum investigating common struggles including patient recruitment, CRO selection, clinical trial management systems, or anything else related to the clinical research and trial sector. Life Science Leader is a business journal for executives in emerging biotech through big pharma. Monthly issues feature interviews with executives from industry, the FDA, and more. Industry Standard Research is the premier, full service market research provider to the pharma and pharma services industries. With over a decade of experience, ISR delivers an unmatched level of domain expertise with off-the-shelf intelligence and custom research offerings.

Visit Clinical Leader

Visit Life Science Leader

Visit Industry Standard Research