Site management organization


A Site Management Organization is an organization that provides clinical trial related services to a contract research organization, a pharmaceutical company, a biotechnology company, a medical device company or a clinical site. The site is usually a hospital or a similar health care institution that has adequate infrastructure and staff to meet the requirements of the clinical trial protocol. The scope of an SMO's responsibility is limited to the 'site' and hence the eponymous title. Some of the responsibilities include:
SMOs are relatively new entrants into the field of clinical research and have since grown at an explosive rate in the U.S. and other countries like India, China and Brazil where clinical trial outsourcing has been at its peak. The fledgling SMO industry is currently valued at about $3 billion and is expected to grow further according to recent estimates from R&D Directions - a market research firm.