Microsoft Dynamics CRM for CROs

Posted on: February 27, 2008 | By: SuperUser Account | Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Contract research organizations use Microsoft Dynamics CRM to help make decisions on clinical trial feasibility within minutes instead of weeks.

A contract research organization or a CRO is a third party that pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies hire to help them pass the pre-clinical and clinical trial process. During the clinical trial process the CRO needs to hold in-human clinical trial studies. These studies are managed and reported on by physicians and hospital staff which have to be selected by the CRO. In order for the CRO to interview the physician their needs to be a large database or way of listing and searching a group of physicians to properly recruit for the clinical trial.

The methodology that CROs are using for this system is to create the account as the pharmaceutical company and the physician as the contact in the system. When a clinical trial is initiated an opportunity (clinical trial study) is created for the account (pharmaceutical company) and the contact (physician) is added to the opportunity to to manage the study. Microsoft Dynamics CRM can also be used in at the physician level for reporting on adverse effects of the trial.

At CRMs core the system really is about adding an activity to some entity and following up or reporting on that activity. I think we will be seeing CRM systems being used in various was throughout Phase I-V all the way into commercialization in the future for the drug industry.