2022 drug development outsourcing trends: A shift to functional service partnerships

Explore key industry challenges, FSP market size, percentage of outsourcing observed and ranked benefits of working with an FSP model to better understand what’s driving the shift to FSP outsourcing.

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Explore the industry trends driving the shift toward FSP outsourcing

Clinical development organizations continually face pressure to move programs forward efficiently while adapting to changing portfolios, talent constraints and evolving operating models. Our 2022 FSP trends report examines 2021/2022 industry data to demonstrate how those pressures contributed to increased use of functional service partnership (FSP) outsourcing alongside traditional full-service outsourcing.

FSP outsourcing in clinical research enables sponsors to outsource specific clinical development functions and/or deploy external resources within the sponsor’s own standard operating procedures and systems. This report describes an industry increasingly combining FSP and full-service approaches to gain flexibility, specialized expertise and scalable capacity.

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Why sponsors were increasing FSP utilization

As clinical development demands increase, sponsors are looking for more flexible ways to access talent, accelerate study execution and adapt resources to changing needs. This report explores several factors that drove greater adoption of FSP models, including:

Speed and agility: FSP models provide additional capacity and expertise to support faster study startup and execution.
Access to talent: A competitive clinical research talent market increased the need for scalable access to experienced professionals and specialized skills.
Stronger site support: Continuity of clinical teams and alignment with sponsor processes address site pain points and strengthen investigator relationships.
Greater resource flexibility: Flexibility was the most commonly cited FSP benefit in the research presented, alongside access to specialized expertise and technology.
More flexible sourcing strategies: Sponsors were increasingly combining FSP with full-service outsourcing rather than relying exclusively on one model.

FSP models give sponsors another way to address capacity gaps, access specialized capabilities and build flexible resourcing strategies. Together, these trends illustrate how FSP plays a strategic, critical role in clinical development resourcing.