When it comes to ophthalmology trials, CROs are saving time and money by focusing on maximizing efficiency. By leveraging a full range of services, CROs can support sponsors across all phases of clinical trial design, conduct, and post-market follow-up for ophthalmic drugs, devices, and diagnostics.
In addition, ophthalmology CRO can reduce costs and risk by offering a single, fully validated technology platform to manage clinical trial data. This ensures that the study startup is as seamless as possible.
Reduced Time to Market
The CRO industry is highly competitive, as evidenced by the number of competing companies vying for the same drug development dollars. In addition, many large CROs have strategic partnerships with large drug manufacturers that provide them with a consistent source of income and access to their wares. This means they have priority access to their staff, data management resources, and investigators. While this may seem like a win-win for sponsors and CROs alike, it also means that smaller companies may have to compete with larger firms on a more even footing for coveted projects.
Reduced Risk
Ophthalmology CROs provide a wide range of services that help clients progress their eye treatments from the early stages of development to market approval. These services include site selection, regulatory document collection, study management, recruitment strategy development, investigator training, and other key clinical operations tasks. Additionally, they have extensive experience managing a wide range of ophthalmology trials. These trials have included studies treating glaucoma, cataracts, retinal disorders, Sjogren’s syndrome, uveitis, and other eye conditions.
An aging global population has increased interest in ocular disease research and development. Rare, genetic, age-related, and degenerative ophthalmic diseases affect 285 million people worldwide. These diseases can lead to a significant loss of quality of life and require costly care and treatment. In addition, ophthalmology CROs can help their clients minimize the risk of developing new ocular drugs or device products by ensuring a comprehensive, specialized, full-service clinical trial. With their expertise and unique approach, these companies can maximize efficiency and value for ophthalmology clinical trial programs – from preclinical to commercialization and beyond. They work with their clients to identify the best indication for their ocular product or drug development program and then provide the necessary support through every process stage.
Increased Productivity
Ophthalmology CROs deliver clinical development services to accelerate drug, biologic, and device approvals. Services include site selection, qualification, regulatory document collection, recruitment strategy development, and investigator training.
A CRO’s experience team, global view, and disease-specific expertise can help increase productivity for your clinical trials. As the world’s population ages and the number of people with chronic eye diseases grows, there is an increasing demand for new treatment options. Ophthalmology is one of the fastest-growing areas in R&D, with the highest rate of growth expected from Asia, Europe, and North America.
Ophthalmology research is a specialized field, with an aging global population and the continued unmet needs of patients with diseases such as dry eye, glaucoma, and retinal disorders. The field requires deep clinical and pharmacology expertise, long-standing relationships with quality research sites, and technical skill for ocular imaging and a wide range of treatment modalities.
To maximize productivity, ophthalmologists need to focus on the core skills of clinical development. In addition to being able to identify and engage quality research sites, ophthalmologists need to have an in-depth understanding of the patient experience and caregiver support. They also need extensive knowledge of drug, biological, and device development and a comprehensive understanding of the clinical research landscape in the therapeutic area.
Reduced Costs
The global ophthalmology market is projected to grow steadily throughout the next decade, driven by an aging population, rising awareness of eye diseases, increased demand for ocular treatments, and increasing investment in research and development (R&D) by governments and industry.
Many ophthalmology drug and device manufacturers rely on contract research organizations (CROs) to support their ophthalmic development efforts. These companies provide clinical trial management, regulatory document collection, site qualification, investigator training, and other critical clinical operations tasks.
CROs can help reduce costs by minimizing unnecessary study activity and improving productivity by offering comprehensive services, including study design optimization and management. They can also assist sponsors with data management and investigator recruitment by providing dedicated resources and access to the latest technologies.
Several CROs are now offering next-generation clinical trial management capabilities to help their sponsors achieve faster timelines and operational efficiency. These technology-enabled firms focus on delivering trials that modern, intuitive eSource, EDC, and ePRO platforms power. Moreover, they work diligently to build long-lasting relationships with sites with extensive experience in their therapeutic areas. This provides a preferred site network that offers faster trial startup, superior patient recruitment, and better quality data.
Automate Patient Communication
CROs specializing in clinical trials can help pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device companies manage their clinical research. They can support every trial stage, from the initial feasibility assessment and patient recruitment to conducting the pivotal phase.
Some CROs also specializes in regulatory affairs and help drug, biotechnology, and medical device companies prepare and submit regulatory documents. This includes applications for registration and marketing approvals.
In addition, these CROs can support several other processes that can save time and money by eliminating paperwork and streamlining workflows. This can include coding rules, charge creation, and claims scrubbing.
For example, some practices with a Same-Day Access (SDA) program use practitioner templates to accommodate patients who call for same-day appointments. This allows practitioners to see more patients while reducing costs for care. However, it is important to note that SDA patients may spend more time in the clinic than non-same-day patients who pre-book their appointments.
