Educating the Industry: Unlocking the Full Potential of MCRCs in Clinical Development

In a recent video interview with Applied Clinical Trials, Jim Kremidas, executive director, Association for MultiSite Research Corporations (AMRC), discussed the Trump Administration's ‘Most Favored Nation’ pricing policy for pharmaceuticals, which aims to match the lowest global prices to reduce costs in the US. Based on his past experience at Eli Lilly, Kremidas expressed concerns about the policy’s impact on pharma companies' clinical development and NIH funding, which could lead to reduced investment in new therapies. Kremidas also highlighted the potential of multisite clinical research corporations (MCRCs) and how they can streamline clinical operations by consolidating contracts and improving efficiency.

ACT: How are sponsors and CROs responding to this shifting landscape? Are they actively seeking out MCRCs, or is more education still needed?

Kremidas: In general, there's more education needed on the concept. There are a handful of sponsors and CROs that indeed, yes, they're going to the MCRCs, but generally speaking, this is a slow to change industry that we are in here. What I described earlier about going to the MCRCs first is not the standard approach, so therefore we definitely need more education and more data showing the value that MCRCs can bring to the industry and to bringing products to market faster.