[1] CROs are designed to reduce costs for companies developing new medicines and drugs in niche markets.
CROs also support foundations, research institutions, and universities, in addition to governmental organizations (such as the NIH, EMA, etc.).
[5] CROs range from large, international full-service organizations to small, niche specialty groups.
[5] The International Council on Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use, a 2015 Swiss NGO of pharmaceutical companies and others, defined a contract research organization (CRO), specifically pertaining to clinical trials services as:[8]: 10 "A person or an organization (commercial, academic, or other) contracted by the sponsor to perform one or more of a sponsor's trial-related duties and functions."
It further details the sponsor's responsibilities in its good clinical practice guidelines:[8]: 22–23 Guidance from the US FDA published in 2013 also speaks to the responsibility of the sponsor to oversee work of the CRO, including the circumstance where risk-based monitoring has been delegated to the CRO.