Types of Projects Outsourced

Synthesis remains the most common type of early discovery project delegated to service providers, with 84% of respondents saying they outsourced synthesis. Service-provider respondents also cited small molecule synthesis as the primary service they provide to clients.

However, as shown in Figure 2, it is becoming more common to outsource other types of early discovery work, including drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics studies, as well as toxicology and safety assessment. Also of note is the relatively low amount of high throughput screening being outsourced. Only 36% of respondents said they outsource high throughput screening; similarly only 27% of providers said they typically provide this service.