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Contract Research Net New Business Awards

measures newly won clinical-research work after cancellations, giving investors a cleaner view of commercial demand than gross awards alone.

By Lee BaileyPublished Sep 28, 2026
Research context

See what supports this page, how current it is, and where comparable or historical context is available.

Research date
Sep 28, 2026Use the dated article and cited sources for the definition, examples, and stated limitations.
Operating-model context
10 connected conceptsPart of the reviewed Contract Research Organization Economics; issuer definitions remain distinct where disclosed.
Company examples
3 reviewed companiesRelationships reflect supported examples, not a normalized cross-company KPI ranking.
  1. The cancellation bridge matters more than the label
  2. An award is not immediate revenue
  3. Part of the Contract Research Organization Economics
  4. See It in Company Research
  5. Continue Research

Contract research net new business awards measure newly won clinical-research work after subtracting cancellations during the period.

The label varies by issuer. Medpace calls the measure net new business awards, IQVIA reports net new bookings, and ICON reports net business wins. The economic job is similar, but the inclusion policies and pass-through content are not automatically standardized.

The cancellation bridge matters more than the label

Medpace reported $795.7M of net new business awards in the second quarter of 2026. IQVIA reported $3.15B of R&DS net new bookings. ICON reported $3.120B of net business wins after $3.681B of gross bookings and $562M of cancellations.

Those amounts differ enormously in scale and scope, so the useful comparison is usually growth, book-to-bill, and consistency within each issuer rather than ranking the raw dollar totals.

An award is not immediate revenue

New awards feed contract research backlog, but study duration, start timing, pass-through intensity, scope changes, and cancellations determine when and whether the work becomes revenue.

Medpace also applies a specific backlog inclusion policy, including funding and regulatory filters. That means a commercial win can exist before every dollar is admitted to backlog.

Primary sources: Medpace second-quarter 2026 results, IQVIA second-quarter 2026 results, and ICON second-quarter 2026 results.

Part of the Contract Research Organization Economics

Connect clinical-research awards, cancellations, book-to-bill, backlog policy and conversion, near-term revenue visibility, and reimbursed pass-through activity across contract research organizations.

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Where this concept fits
  • Awards, cancellations, and demand coverageCurrent relationship
    Net new awards or bookings incorporate cancellations, while book-to-bill compares that net commercial inflow with current revenue. Together they show whether newly won work is replenishing the revenue base without treating gross wins as guaranteed future revenue.
    CRO Book-to-BillCRO CancellationsCRO Net New AwardsCurrent concept
  • Backlog quality, timing, and conversion
    Backlog captures expected contracted work, inclusion policy defines which work qualifies, RPO preserves a separate accounting boundary, next-twelve-month backlog shows near-term timing, and backlog conversion indicates how quickly the booked work becomes revenue.
    CRO BacklogCRO Backlog ConversionCRO Backlog PolicyCRO Backlog vs. RPOCRO NTM Backlog
  • Pass-through costs and underlying service growth
    Reimbursed expenses can materially change reported clinical-research revenue and costs without adding equivalent service economics, so revenue excluding reimbursed expenses helps isolate the underlying service-growth read.
    CRO Reimbursed ExpensesCRO Revenue ex Reimbursements

See It in Company Research

These companies are examples of how the concept is reported or discussed in public filings. Definitions can differ by issuer; these links open company research rather than a normalized metric comparison.

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Compare net clinical awards

Compare new bookings after cancellations while preserving award recognition policies, pass-through content, and issuer naming differences.

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