VARIABLE BILLING vs. FIXED-PRICE MODELS
What Does Your Clinical Trial Stand to Gain?
We understand how complex clinical trials can be. It’s not always clear at
the outset how much time it will take to meet key study milestones. There
are so many variables and plenty of legitimate scope changes that are
needed; but 50 to 100 percent of the original bid may indicate a complete
lack of trial design or a gross under-bidding to win your business!
The evidence is mounting that more and more research sponsors will no
longer tolerate this model from CROs. This is especially true as more early
stage research is being undertaken by emerging companies with tight
budgets and very limited ability to absorb cost changes over the course of
the study.
Emerging companies are looking for innovative ways to stretch their
budgets, gain some stability in uncertain economic times and mitigate risk.
Many are turning to CROs that are actively embracing new ways of doing
business, such as incorporating electronic data capture, just-in-time
monitoring and strategic partnering. These innovative approaches are
making it possible to swing the billing pendulum in the other direction —
to a fixed-price model.
From a client’s perspective, fixed-price has a lot of appeal. Clients know
from the outset what a study will cost and can budget appropriately. They
appreciate the predictability of a fixed-cost spread over the life of a study.
As many sponsors seek a more strategic relationship with their CRO, fixedcost billing helps build that relationship by allowing more focus on the
study instead of on negotiating pricing.
From the CRO’s perspective, fixed-price billing allows for reduced
overhead on internal accounting and tracking systems over the course of a
project. A fixed-price agreement can foster a friendlier and productive
relationship with the customer by virtue of eliminating time wasted on
discussions over money.
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Why dCRO? Integration, collaboration, and transparency across all stakeholders.