CPI Global CRO
Giving Trials the Best Chance to Succeed

A typical client meeting at CPI Global CRO has many interesting elements associated with it. While its experienced and highly-qualified professionals engage in a back and forth ideation with the client, the COO of CPI Global CRO, Eric Richardson, MS leads from the front to build the relationship, trust, and understanding of the services the client requires. The interactive and often animated client conversation lasts long as Richardson wants to ensure the delivery of a personalized, strategic approach to clinical trial management. “The aim here is to comprehend the clients’ environment and come up with a proposed solution or areas of integration where we can best serve the client,” he adds. “It’s very important they choose their partners correctly, and our people-first approach helps them to do it.” As the ideation continues, Richardson emanates excitement, as he knows that soon enough a blueprint will be drafted which will lead toward providing reliable, efficient, customized, and high quality research services to its pharmaceutical and device clients. Richardson informs, “Customer interactions focus on proactive communication: reporting information to our clients as well as listening to their needs. CPI collaboratively works with clients to deliver quality and optimize each aspect of trial design, and execution.”

At a time when the evolving landscape of clinical development has been plagued with increased complexities, it is a rarity to come across a company with industry connections built on a legacy of full transparency and mutual respect. CPI Global CRO, a personalized full-service CRO with an extensive global presence is setting a new paradigm in the CRO industry with the notion of being adaptable, flexing to meet client needs along with the demands of the dynamic nature of clinical research through expertise in scoping, designing, staffing, and executing clinical trials: delivering sound science with confidence. This personalized people-first approach allows the firm to recognize an industry-leading four percent employee turnover rate and 90 percent repeat business rate. “One of the key operational management components that helps drive our employee retention is a very strong open communication pathway, resources are supported and are able to easily escalate and receive help to deliver what is needed, it is a team environment” adds Richardson.

Fostering Empowerment in Resources to Impact Change

One of the main reasons which has stirred the success story of CPI and driven them ahead of the competition curve is their relentless pursuit toward employing a people first approach to deliver their optimal business model. “Our clients are faced with many internal and external pressures on a daily basis; our philosophy is to work as an extension of their team, creating a true partnership.

Our clients are faced with many internal and external pressures on a daily basis; our philosophy is to work as an extension of their team, creating a true partnership. Our people-first approach is part of our culture at CPI

Our people-first approach is part of our culture at CPI,” mentions Richardson.

CPI’s operating model fosters empowerment in resources to impact change. They work to strategically align resources with experience and skill-sets as well as work as an integrated team to fulfill partner needs and do so by reducing task specialization which not only helps to foster collaboration; but also helps accelerate timelines. The company’s people-oriented attitude has been the secret to its success and has contributed outstanding results in a variety of therapeutic areas. With its extensive global presence, CPI has, over the years, garnered experience in managing domestic and global clinical drug and medical device trials throughout their lifecycle. “We work across compounds as well as devices and can provide that personalized, customized service approach across phases of research,” mentions Richardson.

Bearing validation of CPI’s strategic approach to clinical trial management is their work in “rescue study” situations. Rescue study situations arise when a particular study is not adequately managed by the CRO, and the results are not delivered on time and on a budget, which leads to the study needing to be “rescued.” When a situation like this arises, CPI comes in as a vendor to change the path the study is on and get it back on track. Initially, a comprehensive review of the entire study—from the start to where it is being transitioned— is carried out and risks are calculated. Feasibility of the trial is re-conducted, and required modifications are made. Once the changes are created, CPI facilitates enrollment and works to change the pulse and the vibe of the study to be able to deliver results. “We help organizations make up for the lost time by delivering results within acceptable parameters,” says Richardson.

Expertise Meets Experience

CPI provides its clinical project management, clinical monitoring and site management, data management, quality assurance and auditing, regulatory compliance, medical writing, and oversight service expertise in a variety of therapeutic areas, but has a primary focus on four core therapeutic areas— endocrinology, oncology, rare disease, and dermatology along with its medical device work. “Objectively, as a business, we are looking to provide quality services to biotechnology, device and pharmaceutical companies, in a manner that enables them to have a personalized service provider that fulfills their global footprint needs,” articulates Richardson. CPI has achieved success by maintaining close relationships with sponsors, sites, and most of all, its employees.

“We value our relationships with industry partners, site, and patient advocacy groups, who help us achieve success and stay connected with the people who matter,” mentions Richardson. “Overall in terms of quality management, we are focused on ensuring that we have an optimal system that is tested as well as improved over time such that we can offer quality services in a personalized manner cost-effectively.”

In addition to supporting the clinical development pathway, CPI also has extensive experience with late phase research, non-interventional study design and implementation, patient reported outcomes, as well as steering committee charters and advisory boards. CPI has predominantly worked on pediatric trials for greater than 15 years, “Pediatric trials require a special element of care, which CPI provides, such as understanding the important familial psychosocial variables to be considered when planning a pediatric trial,” said Richardson. In terms of rare disease, Richardson believes that there are no service providers who can claim to have experience across all the multitude of rare diseases. Rather, Richardson further comments, having worked across multiple rare diseases puts CPI in a strong position to understand the nuances and niche components that are required when designing and operationalizing a rare disease study. CPIs patient-first approach, starts with understanding each individual patient treatment pathway and how best to address patient need.

Improving Continuously with Evolving Market Needs

Over the years, changing trends in the pharma and biotech landscape have shifted the need of outsourcing certain components and collaborations. Staying ahead of these changes by delivering dynamic flexibility, CPI has been able to provide custom approaches for its clients and work collaboratively in conjunction with other vendors. This has enabled them to offer a consistent service portfolio regardless of the size or type of study. “As a mid-size service provider, CPI maintains a dynamic, adaptable organization so that we can meet the needs of our clients,” mentions Richardson.

"CPI collaboratively works with clients, to deliver quality and optimize each aspect of trial design and execution"

CPI started as a functional service provider resourcing monitors 19 years ago; today, the firm has grown to provide full CRO services across a variety of areas, with expertise globally. “As a company, we look forward to where we see the clinical trial going and changing, and thus we are continuously looking at different methodologies and potential ways to interface and collect patient data and experience optimally,” states Richardson. Further, CPI understands the evolving needs of the patients and sponsors who allow them to maintain the stature of an adaptive organization.

Moving forward, CPI is looking to expand its footprint geographically and is working on increasing the overall company capacity. “As we expand in a controlled fashion, we will be significantly increasing the footprint and the overall company capacity,” informs Richardson. “We want to continue providing the same level and quality of our service as we do today, and be able to do it with a larger reach.”