Benchmarks and tools

Cost of delay calculator for clinical trials

By TrialNotice · Updated
Three clinical research professionals reviewing printed reports at a conference table with a laptop and a wall calendar
Short answerTufts CSDD puts the direct cost of a clinical trial at $55,716 per day for Phase III and $23,737 per day for Phase II. Multiply by the days of delay for the direct cost. If the delay pushes back a launch, Tufts' published estimates of lost sales range from about $500,000 to $800,000 per day.
Bar chart of direct daily trial costs: $55,716 for Phase III, about $40,000 average, and $23,737 for Phase II

Cost of delay calculator

Where do these numbers come from?

  • Direct daily cost: Tufts CSDD's 2024 analysis of 409 trial budgets (PubMed), with phase figures from the Tufts white paper (Tufts CSDD).
  • Lost sales: Tufts' peer reviewed paper estimates about $500,000 per day (PubMed); Tufts' published summary reports about $800,000 (Contract Pharma). We show both.
  • The old $4 million to $5 million figure dates to 1993 estimates and has been replaced (Contract Pharma).

Why should a site care about sponsor costs?

Because sponsors pass the pressure on. Sites that help a study avoid delay are the ones that get the next protocol. A site with patients ready at activation, including referrals from local physicians, is directly reducing this number. See what one day of delay costs.

Get your study in front of the right local physicians

TrialNotice builds a physician referral pipeline around one active study. We identify relevant local physicians within driving distance of your site, send study aligned direct mail, follow up by email and LinkedIn, track engagement with recipient level QR codes, and route warm responses into your site team's workflow.

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Sources

  1. Tufts CSDD, "Quantifying the Value of a Day of Delay in Drug Development" white paper (2024)
  2. Smith Z. et al., "New Estimates on the Cost of a Delay Day in Drug Development," PubMed
  3. Contract Pharma, "Updates on the Value of a Day of Delay in Drug Development" (Tufts CSDD)

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