In a trend that has received surprisingly little attention, contract research organizations (CROs) have gradually taken over much of academia's traditional role in drug development over the past decade. They've been able to do so by offering greater speed and efficiency in conducting clinical trials than academic groups can, but questions have been raised about their qualifications, ethics, accountability, and degree of independence from their pharmaceutical-industry clients.Annual CRO-industry revenues have increased from about $7 billion in 2001 to an estimated $17.8 billion today; of more than 1000 CROs in operation, the four largest — Quintiles, Covance, Pharmaceutical Product Development . . .
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Miriam Shuchman (2007) studied this question.