The contract research organization business, which has a big hub in the Triangle with numerous major players based in the region, is headed toward seven years of plenty, according to a new report.

The CRO business, which includes firms such as Quintiles, INC Research, PPD and others with strong N.C. roots, will grow to a $45.2 billion a year business by 2014, according to San Francisco-based Grand View Research.

The report was issued Thursday.

The CRO industry generated some $27 billion in 2014.

  • Quintiles defends CROs: Quintiles CEO Tom Pike goes on CNBC to defend biotech and life science stocks.

So what is driving growth?

“The factors that contribute to growth include increasing R&D undertaken, patent expiration, increasing outsourcing activities to save time and cost, the CRO collaborations to offer cutting edge services, and the government organizations assigning projects to the CROs,” the report says.

Patents expiring is an especially big factor.

“With the increasing number of patents expiring, increasing number of partnerships to identify biologics and new compounds and growing R&D costs, drug maker and sponsor companies are under pressure to replace the revenue loss specifically due to generics, which has further made drug development more expensive and complex,” Grand View noted.

Government investing also is driving up dollars.

“[O]wing to the increasing incidence rates of chronic diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s and other infectious diseases in children, government funding has increased, which have led to increasing R&D activities,” the firm pointed out.

With big drug firms investing heavily in research and development, CROs are being brought in as partners to provide a variety of services.

“CROs are also appointed by the healthcare associations with the contract to integrate patient care and technology,” the report said.

Drug companies also are under “growing pressure to follow stringent timelines has increased the demand for outsourcing of research activities,” Grand View explained. “Even government organizations are outsourcing their clinical trial activities to CROs so that they can carry out the clinical trials with the required infrastructure, expertise, and minimize cost and timelines.”

Read more at:

http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/healthcare-contract-research-outsourcing-market