Market Size of Clinical Trials Industry
| Study Period | 2019 - 2029 |
| Market Size (2024) | USD 50.66 Billion |
| Market Size (2029) | USD 67.50 Billion |
| CAGR (2024 - 2029) | 5.91 % |
| Fastest Growing Market | North America |
| Largest Market | Asia Pacific |
Major Players
*Disclaimer: Major Players sorted in no particular order |
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Clinical Trial Market Analysis
The Clinical Trials Market size is estimated at USD 50.66 billion in 2024, and is expected to reach USD 67.5 billion by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 5.91% during the forecast period (2024-2029).
The COVID-19 pandemic tremendously impacted the market for clinical trials, as there has been a rising focus on developing new therapeutics or vaccines to treat the disease. Also, COVID-19 brought a shift in terms of the way clinical trials are performed. There has been an increased interest in virtual/decentralized trials in the clinical trial space, and those have been featured on conference agendas and in articles for a long time. Moreover, COVID-19 forced some of the trials to move to a virtual model to keep the trials on track during the pandemic. Additionally, as of November 8, 2022, a total of 8,397 studies have been registered for COVID-19 on the ClinicalTrials.gov website, among which 2,932 studies were registered for Europe alone, followed by 2,290 studies in North America. Thus, such an increase in the number of clinical trials registered to find an effective treatment for the disease is anticipated to drive market growth. Therefore, COVID-19 is predicted to have a significant impact on the market studied.
The major factors propelling the market's growth include the high demand for clinical trials in emerging markets, increased research and development (R&D) spending in the pharmaceutical industry, an increasing prevalence of diseases; and the focus on rare diseases and multiple orphan drugs in the pipeline. For instance, Novartis AG, one of the major players in the studied market, invested USD 9,540 million in the year 2021, which increased from USD 8,980 million in 2020. In addition, another market player, Pfizer Inc., invested USD 13,829 million in 2021 on R&D as compared to USD 9,393 in FY 2020. Thus, the increased research and development expenses by the major players in the market are expected to drive the growth of the market.
Factors such as growing burden of diseases need more advanced and effective medicines for treatment and thus contributes to the growth of the market. For instance, as per IDF Atlas 2021 edition, in 2021, there were 536.6 million people aged 20-79 years living with diabetes around the world and this number is expected to reach 783.7 million by 2045. Such high burden of diseases also propel the growth of the market.
Additionally, the initiatives taken by the government in different regions also conbtribute to the growth of the market. For instance, in January 2022, the European Commission (EC), the Heads of Medicines Agencies (HMA), and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) launched an initiative to transform how clinical trials are initiated, designed, and ran, referred to as Accelerating Clinical Trials in the EU (ACT EU). The aim of ACT EU is to further develop Europe as a focal point for clinical research, to further promote the development of high-quality, safe, and effective medicines, and to better integrate clinical research into the European health system. Such, initiatives by governments across the globe are contributing to market growth.
Therefore, owing to the factors mentioned above, the studied market is anticipated to grow over the forecast period. However, the lack of a skilled workforce in clinical research and stringent regulations for patient enrolment are factors that are expected to hinder the market growth during the analysis period.
