• Organized site networks are emerging throughout the U.S. during a relatively dry acquisition period for SMOs. Investigators are looking to retain their independence, collegiality and direct interaction with sponsors. They also want to benefit from collective marketing muscle.
• Site networks are expanding-often within single geographic and therapeutic area. Many are poised, long term, to offer a broader range of services to member sites.

Article 230: AMCs Finding and Fueling Growth

• Central clinical trials offices continue to report very strong growth in industry-sponsored grant revenue. Institutions also report that they are now involved in much larger numbers of later stage clinical research programs.
• Many offices report that they are expanding their service offerings to include new education and training programs and ongoing research support. AMCs are also looking to build broader networks comprising both academic and community physicians.

• A variety of companies have pondered ways to become global clinical research providers. From mergers and acquisitions to joint ventures, these companies have had varying degrees of risk and rewards. Two niche CROs, the Chapel Hill, N.C.-based Rho and the Paris-based Advanced Drug Development Services (ADDS) have chosen the route of establishing a joint venture. Called Rho-ADDS, each company gains expertise in services it had not previously offered and a toehold on a new continent.

• Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia, responsible for more than 60% of advanced-age dementias in 4 million Americans. The cause of Alzheimer's remains unknown. It has a gradual progression, with development of severer degrees of dementia and incapacity, which ultimately proves fatal. Death usually results from other comorbid diseases associated with Alzheimer's, not from the dementia itself.