Accelerating Future-Forward Drug Development: Benchmarking Today, Charting Tomorrow
New benchmarking research from the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development (Tufts CSDD), sponsored and commissioned by Syneos Health, examines how clinical sourcing models relate to trial performance and quality. Syneos Health connects those questions to a broader imperative: building adaptive drug development models that can respond as science, evidence expectations, technology and portfolio priorities change.
Explore the independent Tufts CSDD research and Syneos Health perspectives on the evidence strategies, technologies and operating models shaping the future of clinical development.
Learn more from our team about the Tufts CSDD Sourcing Model Benchmarking Study.
About the Tufts CSDD Sourcing Model Benchmarking Study
The 2026 benchmarking study looks beyond sourcing-model labels to explore the factors that may influence clinical development performance. Key questions the Tufts CSDD study aims to address include:
- How do different clinical development sourcing models impact study timelines, quality outcomes and overall development costs?
- How do sponsors select clinical trial sourcing models, and what factors influence their decision making?
- Which clinical development functions and capabilities are most commonly outsourced, and what outsourcing preferences do sponsors have?
- How does the number of vendors involved in a clinical trial affect performance, execution and study outcomes?
- What factors are driving technology investment in clinical development, and how are those investments influencing sourcing decisions?
- How are emerging trends such as site networks and portfolio-level contracting changing the clinical research landscape, and what implications do they have for CROs?
- How can CROs evolve their operating models, strengthen sponsor collaboration and meet changing industry requirements?
See how Syneos Health is building for what’s next.
Syneos Health's Role
Syneos Health sponsored and commissioned the study. Syneos Health R&D Advisory led initiative execution and co-led structured interviews; Tufts CSDD independently managed quantitative data collection and analysis.
A Syneos Health Perspective on Adaptive Drug Development
Benchmarking can clarify how clinical sourcing works today. Syneos Health’s white paper, Drug Development That Moves at the Speed of Change, looks ahead to a more adaptive model—one that connects scientific innovation, evidence strategy, intelligent technology and flexible delivery.
The white paper explores how trial design, evidence generation, execution and regulatory strategy can continuously inform one another. It also examines how AI, advanced analytics and connected data environments can strengthen decisions while human experts remain accountable for scientific meaning, operational judgment and direction.
Explore the Adaptive Drug Development Series
Go deeper into four connected dimensions of adaptive drug development, with additional content coming soon.
Adaptive Evidence Generation: Designing Clinical Development for Continuous Learning
Explore how precision medicine, innovative trial designs, real world evidence and integrated data strategies can support learning throughout development.
From Review to Real Time: The Regulatory Shift Toward Adaptive Drug Development
Examine how real-time oversight, innovative pathways and evolving regulatory initiatives are enabling a more responsive development ecosystem.
Building the Adaptive Drug Development Engine: AI, Data and Human Expertise in Action
See how AI, advanced analytics, connected data and human expertise can work together to support faster, better-informed decisions.
Agility That Scales: Operating Models for Adaptive Drug Development
Learn why development organizations are moving beyond fixed sourcing labels toward fit-for-purpose models that can evolve with scientific, evidence and resource needs.
Turn Research Into Operating Model Decisions
No sourcing label determines success on its own. Portfolio priorities, capability needs, governance, technology and delivery complexity all shape the right model. Syneos Health helps clinical development leaders evaluate those variables and design fit-for-purpose operating models for the work ahead.
FAQs
It is a 2026 study examining clinical sourcing approaches, selected performance and quality measures, vendor complexity, technology investment and emerging outsourcing trends.
Syneos Health sponsored and commissioned the study. Syneos Health R&D Advisory led initiative execution and co-led structured interviews, while Tufts CSDD independently collected and analyzed the quantitative data.
Adaptive drug development is a connected approach in which evidence, trial design, technology, regulatory strategy and delivery models inform one another as conditions change. The goal is continuous learning and more responsive decision making across development.
On this page, you can request more information about the research via the form below and also explore Syneos Health’s adaptive drug development white paper and related content.
