Preferred Relationships Between CRO's And Investigators: A Proactive Approach To Speeding Patient Enrollment

By Deirdre Albertson, INC Research/inVentiv Health

Increasingly over the past few years, pharmaceutical companies have engaged clinical research organizations (CROs) in preferred provider relationships to streamline and improve their outsourced services. The notion is that by working closely with vendors that have been awarded preferred status, companies can gain efficiencies and boost quality. This same practice is now being extended downstream in the clinical environment. Progressive CROs, eager to satisfy the needs of their sponsor partners for faster patient enrollment and higher data quality, are developing preferred provider relationships with investigator networks and site management organizations (SMOs).

This paper highlights how such relationships work, what benefits they offer, and how CROs should ensure that the advantages accrue to sponsors.