CRO Leadership Awards Move To Primetime
By Ed Miseta, Chief Editor, Clinical Leader @EdClinical
If you are looking for a CRO to help take your molecule through clinical trials and the process of gaining regulatory approval, who do you turn to? Which ones are the most dependable or produce the highest quality studies? It’s not like there is an Angie’s List for CROs.
But giving you that kind of objective information was exactly the reason Life Science Leader started the CRO Leadership Awards several years ago. Our goal was simple: We wanted to use real research, gathered from pharma companies, to determine which CROs were the best at what they do. We look at six categories (capabilities, compatibility, expertise, Phase IV, quality, and reliability) and rely on feedback from individuals who have actually worked with CROs.
Our partners at Industry Standard Research (ISR) conduct the research, which this year, consisted of an online survey of 70 CROs that were evaluated on more than 20 different performance metrics. The research participants, from biopharmaceuticals companies of all sizes, were screened for decision-making influence and authority. The winners of these awards are then determined by adding up the total points awarded in each attribute.
The awards have come a long way since those early years when we would distribute the trophies to CROs by going booth to booth on the show fl oor of DIA.
Last year, we were able to secure a press room at the DIA Global Annual Meeting and have an actual ceremony, complete with attendees, refreshments, and winners receiving their awards in front of customers and competitors.
This year the CRO Leadership Awards take another step forward. At the DIA 2019 Global Annual Meeting in San Diego, the awards will be presented to recipients in a more formal ceremony that will take place before DIA’s Inspire Awards, which honor the best and brightest in the life sciences industry.
Barbara Lopez Kunz, global chief executive for DIA, notes the Inspire Awards have become the place to be at the group’s annual meeting. The awards are a celebration of the individuals who have worked hard over the course of the year to contribute to and promote the vision of DIA. The event has become bigger every year and is now a ceremony that also honors DIA’s fellows.
“An overriding goal of DIA is to drive collaboration,” says Lopez Kunz. “We also believe many of the challenges we face extend across the healthcare continuum. For that reason, we are focused on convening at the multi-disciplinary or multi-stakeholder level, and our awards recognize the efforts made by many stakeholders across the globe.”
The DIA Global Inspire Awards include the Chairman’s Award for Outstanding Contribution to Global Health, the Excellence in Service Award, the Global Connector Award, the Community Engagement Award, and the Author of the Year Award.
This year the Inspire Awards will take place on Monday, June 24, at The Prado at Balboa Park in San Diego. We are thrilled to be honoring the CRO Leadership Award winners at that same venue and hope you will join us in the celebration.