Data Release Records Highest Global Clinical Grant Spending

Global clinical grant spending in 2008, the last year for which complete data are available, reached a new high at $11.5 billion. According to TTC-llc, the breakdown by phase ranged from $0.8 billion for phase I studies, $2.2 billion for phase II studies, and $7.2 billion for phase III studies. Phase IV spending totaled $1.3 billion. The data come from the industry’s largest current database on pharmaceutical clinical grants, GrantPlan®, supplemented with additional data from ClinicalTrials.gov.

Clinical grant spending varied substantially by therapeutic area. The five largest therapeutic areas in phase 1-3 were: Oncology, 23%; Central Nervous System and Mental Disorders, 22%, Cardiovascular diseases, 18%, Endocrine, 10%, Infectious diseases, 7%. Relative phase IV spending differed by therapeutic area, with the five largest being: Central Nervous System and Mental Disorder, 40%; Cardiovascular, 20%; Endocrine, 10%, Infectious Diseases, 7%, and Genitourinary Systems, 4%. Oncology grant spending represented only 3% of phase 4 spending.