CRO Relationship Health Check

As a Sponsor, or Sponsor representative, it is essential that you have a great relationship with all of the CROs involved in the study.

How do you know whether that relationship is working? Which of the graphics below resonates most with you?

All Good Here – Everything’s Great!

I’m Starting to Worry …..

I’m Getting Angry & Frustrated!!!

Most CRO relationships don’t fail dramatically, they quietly drift. Timelines stretch, issues escalate later than they should, and oversight becomes reactive rather than proactive.

Answer the questions below to get your health check score!!!

1. How long does it currently take your CRO to reply to an urgent email?

Within an hour
Same day
Need to chase after 48 hours – " Following up on my previous email …"
48-72 hours + " Sorry I missed this "

2. When you ask for the latest timeline, what happens?

They send it immediately
They need to "check with the team"
They send a PowerPoint from 3 months ago
They send three versions and ask you which one is right

3. Your last vendor meeting felt like:

A partnership
A polite update
A status dump with no actions
A hostage situation

4. How accurate are the CRO’s enrolment forecasts?

Impressive
Off by ~10%
Off by ~50%
"We’re still confident we’ll hit FPI by last quarter."

5. When you ask why milestones slipped, you hear:

Clear root cause (evidenced)
"Resource changes"
"We’re realigning bandwidth"
"We weren’t aware that was a milestone."

6. What is the CRA turnover in the past 6 months?

Stable
Some movement
New names on every meeting
You’re now on a first-name basis with HR

7. How’s your communication escalation pathway working?

Smooth
Occasionally bumpy
Everyone pings the PM and hopes for the best
"We’ll take this offline" as the universal response

8. Data Quality feels:

Strong
Manageable
Like putting out fires weekly
Like the database is actively gaslighting you

9.How about budget conversations?

Straightforward
Periodic tweaks
Endless change orders
They send invoices you can’t tie to anything

10. Do you feel your CRO actually knows your protocol?

Yes
Mostly
Depends who you ask
"…I’ll need to re-review the protocol." (from the PM)