Nanocrine: Enhancing Research Capabilities of CROs

As published in the SV September 2025 Newsletter

What’s a CRO - and what do they actually do?

A contract research organization (CRO) is an independent partner that can take on one or more of a drug sponsor’s responsibilities (everything from protocol design and site monitoring to data analysis and preparing FDA submissions), so companies don’t need to build that infrastructure in-house. That definition is codified in U.S. regulations (21 CFR 312.3) and echoed in practical guides for innovators, which note CRO capabilities that span nonclinical, clinical, regulatory, data, and quality functions (see footnotes 1 and 2).

Why CROs matter: the development engine behind new medicines

CROs compress timelines, reduce fixed costs, and open access to specialized expertise and global trial networks - benefits that are especially vital for startups and small biopharma. Industry data show CROs conduct the vast majority of clinical trials worldwide, and the market is still expanding (and projected to approach ~$63B by 2030), underscoring how central outsourced R&D has become to modern drug discovery and development. In short, CROs are the commercialization engine that delivers R&D as a service at scale to the pharmaceutical industry (see footnotes 2, 3, and 4).

Why Nanocrine is crucial for CROs

Nanocrine’s plasmonic chip makes previously invisible live-cell communication visible in real time using standard microscopes - capturing single messenger-molecule and exosome events without labels, in sterile, single-use, multiplexed formats. That enables CROs to offer faster, mechanism-rich assays for phenotypic screening, tumor microenvironment and metastasis signaling, and therapeutic MoA studies, helping sponsors make earlier go/no-go decisions with higher biological fidelity. The underlying approach has been peer-reviewed (single-exosome nanoplasmonic detection), and Nanocrine reported its first commercial chip sales to NIH in 1Q 2025, signaling readiness for CRO deployment across preclinical and translational programs (see footnotes 5 and 6).

For further information on Nanocrine or to arrange a meeting with Nanocrine’s co-founder and Chief Science Officer, Dr. Patrick Calhoun, please contact SV Managing Director, Tony Coretto.

Sources:

1. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-312/subpart-A/section-312.3?utm_source=chatgpt.com "21 CFR 312.3 -- Definitions and interpretations."

2. https://seed.nih.gov/sites/default/files/2024-03/Contract-Research-Organizations-Intro.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com "An Innovator's Guide to Choosing a CRO"

3. https://www.acrohealth.org/value-of-clinical-research-organizations/?utm_source=chatgpt.com "The Value of Clinical Research and Technology ..."

4. https://www.fiercebiotech.com/cro/cro-and-clinical-trial-markets-set-growth-2030-especially-asia-pacific-reports?utm_source=chatgpt.com "CRO and clinical trial markets set for growth by 2030: reports"

5. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6108516/?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Nanoplasmonic pillars engineered for single exosome ..."

6. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0202773&utm_source=chatgpt.com "Nanoplasmonic pillars engineered for single exosome detection"