The biopharmaceutical industry is at a pivotal moment. Rapid scientific progress and intensifying competition demand a rethinking of clinical trial delivery. Among the forces reshaping the industry is the geographic distribution of clinical trials and sites, which has become more global since 2008. As the demand for personalized medicine grows, so does the need to include diverse patient populations from around the world in clinical trials. Further, companies face rising cost pressures and greater geopolitical complexity. Achieving a future where trials enroll twice as many patients but run twice as fast, while delivering better outcomes, will require a model that blends current best practices with innovation, say McKinsey’s Gaurav Agrawal, Kevin Webster, Piotr Pilarski, Valentina Sartori, and coauthors.
Image description.
A stacked bar chart illustrates the distribution of clinical trial sites across active Phase III trials from 2008 to 2023, segmented by region. The chart is divided into four regions: Rest of world, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, Europe, and North America. Each bar represents a year, with the height of the bar corresponding to the total percentage of trial sites across the regions. The Asia-Pacific region has seen a significant increase, rising from 13% in 2008 to 25% in 2023, a 12 percentage point increase. Latin America has also grown, from 5% to 7%, a 2 percentage point increase. In contrast, Europe has declined from 38% to 34%, a 4 percentage point decrease, and North America has fallen from 41% to 32%, a 9 percentage point decrease. The "Rest of world" category remains steady at 2% throughout the period.
This image description was completed with the assistance of Writer, a gen AI tool.
Source: ClinicalTrials.gov; McKinsey analysis
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