Frost Radar : Asia-Pacific Contract Research Organizations, 2023

More than 6,000 molecules are currently in clinical development across the pharmaceutical research and development (R&D) landscape, with more than 11,000 in the preclinical phase. The industry is witnessing the growth of small- to mid-segment pharma/biotech players making significant contributions to drug discovery and development pipelines. Across APAC, local biopharma companies are establishing themselves as key contributors to the drug development pipeline. APAC matches Europe in terms of the number of clinical trials, particularly late-stage trials, where patient volumes are important. This can partly be attributed to the region’s population density. The region is also characterized by greater usage of gadgets, such as smartphones, tablets, and wearable devices, which are available here at significantly lower prices than in the West. This helps establish APAC as a suitable location for remote/decentralized trial modalities.

In the global CRO industry, estimated at over $50 billion, APAC is emerging as the fastest and highest growing market in terms of compound annual growth rate (CAGR), not only in clinical development phases but also in drug discovery and preclinical testing. The region offers a significant cost advantage of 30% to 50% against Western markets, further making it extremely attractive for large late-stage clinical trials as well as early-stage non-clinical services. The companies included in the Radar™ offer non-clinical and clinical research services as well as peripheral services that cover pharmacovigilance (PV), health economics and outcome research (HEOR), data management and biostatistics, post-market surveillance, medical writing and documentation, as well as regulatory consulting, among other areas. All the companies featured on this Radar™ are headquartered in APAC countries, including India, China, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and more. A few of the players have a global presence and are among the top 10 CROs in the global CRO industry, while others are small- to mid-segment CROs with a reach limited to the country of origin or to APAC or Southeast Asia.

Frost & Sullivan analyzes numerous companies in an industry. Those selected for further analysis based on their leadership or other distinctions are benchmarked across 10 Growth and Innovation criteria to reveal their position on the Frost Radar™. The publication presents competitive profiles of each company on the Frost Radar™ considering their strengths and the opportunities that best fit those strengths.