U.S. Healthcare Contract Research Organization Market: The Role of CROs in Clinical Trials

The U.S. healthcare contract research organization market size accounted for USD 14,950 million in 2024 and is expected to exceed around USD 29,680 million by 2034, growing at a CAGR of 7.1% from 2025 to 2034.

U.S. Healthcare Contract Research Organization Market Report Highlights

• By service, the clinical monitoring segment dominated the U.S. healthcare contract research organization market for the largest revenue share of 17% in 2024.
• By service, the regulatory & medical affairs segment is expected to grow fastest growth rate of 9.65% during the forecast period.
• By type, the clinical segment accounted for a considerable market share of 73% in 2024.
• By type, the pre-clinical segment is expected to grow at the fastest rate in the market during the forecast period of 2025 to 2034.
• By application, the oncology segment maintained a leading position in the market in 2024.
• By application, the central nervous system (CNS) segment is projected to expand rapidly in the market in the coming years.
• By end-use, the pharmaceutical & biopharmaceutical companies segment led the market.
• By end-use, the medical device companies segment is projected to expand rapidly in the market in the coming years.

The U.S. healthcare contract research organization market refers to the production, distribution, and application of healthcare contract research organizations involving companies that provide outsourced clinical trial and drug development services to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device companies. CRO is a company hired by another company or research center to take over specific parts of running a clinical trial. The company may design, manage, and monitor the trial and analyze the results.

A contract research organization (CRO) acts as a bridge between the sponsor, the one who contracts the services, and the rest of the actors involved in the clinical trial. Contract research organizations are specialized entities that offer research services on a contractual basis to innovators. CROs deliver a broad spectrum of services, drug development, laboratory and lifecycle management, and clinical research. Contract research organizations (CROs) are hired to offer research support and conduct clinical trials to safely and efficiently bring life-saving drugs and vaccines to market. One of the significant benefits of working with CROs is the access to expertise and experience. The main role of the CRO is to plan, coordinate, execute, and supervise the processes involved in the development of clinical trials, being a central contact point between the sponsor and other trial actors.

Industry Valuation and Growth Rate Projection

Growing outsourcing of research and development activities driving the growth of the U.S. healthcare contract research organization market. Outsourcing research and development activities offers competitive and financial benefits. It can also lead to better results and a market-ready product in less time. Outsourcing can help you leverage knowledge and skills along with your complete supply chain. Outsourcing can also help to make businesses more flexible and agile, able to adapt to changing market conditions and challenges while providing cost savings and service level improvements.

Outsourced R&D allows manufacturers to quickly tap into innovative information and expertise and use those resources to educate and use those resources to educate internal teams. Outsourcing allows you to move extraneous functions to more specialized sources. Shifting those functions to companies that specialize in those tanks can lead to greater productivity, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness. Research and development, expanding existing facilities, leasing additional space, and hiring staff are expensive and may be unnecessary. R&D operations can be costly, specifically if they add exorbitant strain on existing proprietary operations.

The rising number of clinical trials in emerging economies is driving the growth of the U.S. healthcare contract research organization market. We gain access to new research treatments before they are widely available. We receive regular and careful medical attention from a research team that includes doctors and other healthcare professionals. These trials are the primary way that researchers determine if a new form of treatment or prevention, like a new drug, diet, or medical device, is safe and effective in people. Clinical trials are research studies that test a medical, surgical, or behavioral intervention in people.

The benefits of clinical trials include a chance to help others, reduced cost, closer monitoring, and access to the latest therapies. This may have the chance to help scientists better understand your disease or condition and to advance treatments and ways to prevent it in the future. Clinical trials are important for discovering new treatments for diseases and also new ways to detect, diagnose, and reduce the chance of developing the disease. Clinical trials can show researchers what does and doesn’t work in humans that cannot be learned in the laboratory or in animals.

The increasing R&D expenditure worldwide is driving the growth of the U.S. healthcare contract research organization market. Research and development (R&D) is an essential driver of economic growth as it spurs invention, innovation, and progress. R&D spending can lead to breakthroughs that can drive profits and well-being for consumers. Investment in research and development (R&D) benefits include advancements in marketing abilities, cost management benefits, and increasing market participation. R&D can lead to new discoveries and ideas or the invention or improvement of products and services. In short, R&D is the first step to creating something new. Methodology can find out more about how we designed and carried out our qualitative and quantitative research.

Global Clinical Trials, LLC is a full-service CRO with offices and operations in the United States, Europe, and Asia. According to the USA-GCT-Global Clinical Trials report in February 2025, nearly 47% of the total number of registered clinical trials in the world, 2.3+ million people participate in clinical trials everywhere in the USA, greater than 125000 annual number of total registered studies on ClinicalTrials.gov and nearly 5.7% average annual growth rate of the hospital industry.