This volume provides a complete update of all the materials in prior volumes on the subject (including current directories to testing labs and other support establishments worldwide), while adding substantial new material on the following topics:

- The history of CROs, including snapshots of CROs and a genealogy chart making clear where they came from and where they went.

- Study directors and principal investigators.

- The nuts and bolts of study performance.

- Electronic reporting requirements - SEND and eCTD (required for NDA, BLA, ANDA, and IND submissions).

- Consultants and their roles.

- An expanded examination of common problems and their solutions.

This book boasts complete directories to the global universe of operating labs - where they are, how to contact them, and what they do (including special capabilities). Additionally, checklists for qualifying labs and manufacturing facilities - and for auditing studies and projects at such facilities - are included. It is directed at those in industry (specifically directed at those working for companies using CRO services) but will also be of interest to scientists or administrators working in research organizations themselves.

In this case, the contents of this new work are essential to the target reader because the work, regulations, and actors (CROs) have evolved and changed at a rapid pace in the 10 years since the earlier volume that the author published. Likewise, the companies using these services have come to all be almost completely dependent on outsourcing. The earlier texts remain the only source of their kind (paper or electronic) on the field and the only noncommercial guide to the global industry and this volume provides a complete update.