Article 119: CROs Raise the Grade

• Site ratings of CROs are significantly higher than those from the 1997 report card survey. However, ratings still show considerable room for improvement, particularly in the areas of staff quality, grant payments and monitor turnover.
• Top performing CROs attribute the improvement to several major initiatives primarily involving training, new site support functions and empowerment of regional monitors.

Article 120: PPMs Revisited

• Single-specialty PPMs - especially in oncology- are proving successful in business and increasing their clinical research initiatives.
• Consolidation in the industry will continue. Those who have the access to large numbers of physicians and patients will become major players.
• PPMs are in a position to capture more market share.

Article 121: Eye on Schizophrenia

• The trend in schizophrenia treatments has moved towards atypical anti-psychotic drugs and long-acting versions of traditional drugs. CenterWatch editorial has identified 20 drugs in the pipeline.