Medical Affairs Outsourcing Market (2023 - 2030)

Medical Affairs Outsourcing Market Summary

The global medical affairs outsourcing market size was valued at USD 1.7 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow from USD 2.7 billion in 2026 to USD 4.6 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 13.6% from 2023 to 2030. North America dominated the market, accounting for a revenue share of 34.9% in 2022. The market is growing at a significant rate due to the surge in clinical trials, due to the increasing prevalence of communicable and non-communicable diseases, which increases the demand for medical devices and new drugs and boosts the demand for medical outsourcing services.

Source: Grand View Research, IR Documents, Primary Interviews, Paid Databases

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In addition, cost-effective and high-quality services offered by contract research organizations and stringent regulatory scenarios are other major factors that contribute to the growth of the market.

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The global pandemic has adversely affected nearly every industry and is anticipated to impact industry growth during the projection period. The impact of COVID-19 has placed many regulatory and outsourcing teams under pressure. However, the coronavirus outbreak has resulted in the  change of work schedule of medical affairs professionals in the pharma industry. This has increased virtual scientific interactions as well as the prioritization of scientific communication. In the long term, this is anticipated to affect the structure and responsibilities of the medical affairs team. New areas such as access to advanced treatments in particular channels of healthcare delivery, interactions with patient groups, and roles in specialty care are expected to become integral to the medical affairs function.

Growing pricing pressure, stringent regulatory policies, and a rising number of patent expirations have led to shrinking profit margins in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. Contract medical affairs services are considered a "strategic competitive weapon" among biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical firms, as these services help in cost savings. Furthermore, pharmaceutical and medical device companies are outsourcing medical affairs services to contract research organizations (CROs) to limit their liability exposure by working with a well-trained outsource company, reduce operational costs, minimize regulatory compliance risk, and prevent process delays.

Service Insights

Based on service, the medical writing and publishing segment held the largest share of 35.0% in 2022. Medical writing involves creating various types of scientific documents, including regulatory and research-related documents, drug- or disease-related promotional and educational literature, health-related magazines, news articles, content for healthcare websites, and publication articles. The increasing number of diverse pharmaceutical products being launched in the market leads to a high demand for professional medical writers in the industry. Moreover, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies have created a high demand for regulatory paperwork, which is one of the key factors fueling market growth.

The medical science liaisons (MSL) segment is expected to exhibit 14.2% CAGR growth over the forecast period. MSLs are consulting professionals with advanced scientific training and academic credentials, as well as a doctorate in life sciences. Keeping MSLs on staff as they are required in post-product launches is not cost-effective for pharmaceutical or medical device companies. Also, finding and training MSLs to build a team is expensive and time-consuming for pharmaceutical and medical device companies; these are the key factors driving the segment's growth.

Industry Insights

In terms of industry, pharmaceuticals accounted for the largest revenue share of 52.1% in 2022 and are estimated to retain their position throughout the forecast years. Pharmaceutical companies are outsourcing medical affairs services to manage R&D value, scale back investment costs for training a medical affairs team, and procure high-quality documents. Pharmaceutical companies are outsourcing these services for improved management of product lifecycles and diverse business activities. In addition, due to various patent expirations, the requirement for medical affairs service providers has increased for the preparation of draughts of new patents.

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The biopharmaceutical segment is anticipated to register the fastest CAGR growth of 15.7% during the forecast period. This is due to increasing resource constraints, critical examination of the R&D process, and increased inquiries from emerging countries for biopharmaceutical products. In addition, biopharmaceutical companies are focusing on core activities related to clinical trials compared to noncore activities such as medical affairs and are thus outsourcing medical affairs services.

Regional Insights

North America dominated the market in 2022 and accounted for a revenue share of over 34.9%. Stringent regulatory processes and rising R&D expenditure in North America are expected to increase the demand for large biopharmaceutical companies to outsource medical affairs services. Also, the unavailability of medical affairs experts is a major challenge, which has encouraged biopharmaceutical and medical device companies based in North America to outsource certain functions to individuals with a high level of expertise in the domain.

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The medical market in Asia Pacific is anticipated to be the fastest-growing regional market with a CAGR of 15.1% in the forecast period, owing to the cost-efficient service offerings by the CROs in the region, the growing number of clinical trials conducted in the region, and the increasing number of biopharmaceutical companies venturing in the region. In addition, an improved regulatory framework and the availability of a skilled workforce within the region at a lower cost compared to the U.S. are expected to propel growth.

Key Companies & Market Share Insights

To remain competitive, market players are undertaking various strategic initiatives such as geographic expansion, mergers & acquisitions, and partnerships. For instance, in December 2022, Syneos Health announced the extension of its strategic partnership with Medable. Through cutting-edge decentralised clinical trial (DCT) technologies, this partnership's key goals are to lessen site and patient burden, increase enrolment and retention, and increase patient access and diversity.Some prominent players in the global medical affairs outsourcing market are:

• ICON plc

• IQVIA Holdings, Inc.

• The Medical Affairs Company

• Syneos Health, Inc.

• Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (PPD)

• Ashfield Healthcare Communications

• Zeincro Group

• Wuxi Clinical Development, Inc.

• SGS S.A.

• Indegene, Inc.

Global Medical Affairs Outsourcing Market

This report forecasts revenue growth at global, regional & country levels and provides an analysis on the industry trends in each of the sub-segments from 2018 to 2030. For this study, Grand View Research has segmented the global medical affair outsourcing market report based on services, industry, and region:

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• Services Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2018 - 2030)

  • Medical Writing & Publishing

  • Medical Monitoring

  • Medical Science Liaisons (MSLs)

  • Medical Information

  • Others

• Industry Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2018 - 2030)

  • Pharmaceutical

  • Biopharmaceutical

  • Medical Devices

    • Therapeutic Medical Devices

    • Diagnostic Medical Devices

• Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2018 - 2030)

  • North America

    • U.S.

    • Canada

  • Europe

    • U.K.

    • Germany

    • France

    • Italy

    • Spain

    • Denmark

    • Sweden

    • Norway

    • Rest of EU

  • Asia Pacific

    • Japan

    • China

    • India

    • Australia

    • Thailand

    • South Korea

    • Rest of APAC

  • Latin America

    • Brazil

    • Mexico

    • Argentina

    • Rest of LATAM

  • Middle East & Africa

    • South Africa

    • Saudi Arabia

    • UAE

    • Kuwait

    • Rest of MEA