Clinical Professionals Industry Analytics Report: Clinical 2017

The Clinical Professionals group aim to be aware of the latest industry events and news whilst also aspiring to be at the forefront of the latest analytics and reporting.

This enables our consultants to provide a concise and quality service for both clients and candidates, whilst helping the industry to evolve as a whole.

Consequently, the Clinical Professionals group has collaborated with Vacancysoft to create monthly reports that provide an in-depth analysis of vacancies across various sectors, countries and companies.

The latest CPIA report features analysis and data from the Clinical sector within the pharmaceutical industry for UK, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

Yvette Cleland, Clinical Professionals Group CEO comments:

“In the last five years Europe has seen a 150% increase in clinical trials, with over 30,000 currently ongoing today. Interestingly, an underlying trend within the Biotech sector is a growing strategy to keep trials within house, rather than outsource them. This, along with a 7% year-on-year growth within Biotech, is very interesting.

Traditionally, the highest concentration of vacancies within clinical trials has been clustered within the UK, and in 2016 the UK had 32% of all vacancies within clinical research, with MHRA playing a significant role in early stage trials. Interestingly, a more recent analysis of activity in 2017, articularly within pharma, found a 17% decrease in vacancies within the UK and a 166% increase in vacancies now going to the Netherlands, which is of course the new home for the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Having said that, the UK is still the largest market across Europe for Contract Research Organisations (CRO’s), followed by Germany, with CRO vacancies rising by 3% within the UK in 2017.

A constant challenge across Europe, however, is continual skill shortages and a decline in investment for training and development in core skills. Our most recent analysis of skills found a massive 87% rise in vacancies within Clinical Management and a 33% increase in Clinical Research Associates (CRAs) and Senior CRAs vacancies. This is contrasted by a huge decline in Clinical Trial Associates (CTAs) of 31%. More interestingly, several recent global skills studies have identified that many clinical professionals will retire in the next ten years, and the CTA route was often the starting point of a career, bringing new talent into the industry. Thus, if there is a decline in such roles, as well as development and training of CTAs, this could provide even greater challenges and escalating costs for the industry.

Some light at the end of the tunnel may be the apprenticeship levy and associated trailblazer in clinical research. If enough pharmaceutical companies and CROs begin to play their part, by utilising such programmes, we would gain the skill development we require within a post-Brexit landscape, making the UK PLC Life Sciences Industrial Strategy sustainable.

The Clinical Professionals Group has invested in the funding, training and deployment to industry of talented life sciences graduates, playing its part in supporting the industry’s skill challenges. Over the last 18 months, more than 80 graduates have been trained and placed within industry. We continue to work within the clinical research trailblazer and in January will be publishing our 2018 salary survey, now a recognised pan European benchmark within industry.”