We’ve documented the increase in biotechnology acquisitions and license deals by pharmaceutical companies in previous posts. But the impact of pharma’s move away from in-house R&D has benefited other sectors of the healthcare industry, particularly clinical research organizations (CROs). For those outside the technology side of healthcare, CROs provide outsourced research services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries on a contract basis.

Through mid-November, we’ve seen an increase of 325% in deal volume for CROs, compared with the year before. In 2015, just five deals for these targets were announced. So far this year, 17 are on the books.

This year’s acquirers include only two publicly traded CRO companies, Charles River Laboratories (NYSE: CRL) and ICON plc (NASDAQ: ICLR), making three acquisitions, combined. (Charles River made two deals, ICON just one.) The 15 privately held acquirers include three private equity firms, Advent International, Amulet Capital Partners and Cinven Group, with one portfolio company, BioAgilytix, backed by Riverside Partners.

Typically, full-service CRO providers offer a broader array of services for Big Pharma customers. But when it comes to clinical sponsors in smaller biotech firms and startups, full-service CROs may not meet these niche requirements. This notion led to the development of specialty CROs, which specialize in specific clinical or preclinical stages of drug development, or on particular disease areas. Oncology, cardiovascular, metabolic disorders and central nervous system disorders are some of the popular therapeutic areas that have seen a rise in the number of specialty CROs.

Of the 17 acquisitions this year, 13 of the targets listed specific specialties in their company profiles. Only one is a full-service CRO, which validates the claim that this sector is reshaping itself to meet the changing needs of the industry.

The most recent acquisition of a specialty CRO was announced on November 8, when privately held CiToxLAB Group, a preclinical contract research organization, purchased Canada-based AccelLAB for an undisclosed amount. AccelLAB is a preclinical CRO specializing in the fields of the cardiology and orthopedics.

Another example was announced on September 7, when privately held BTC Network, a fully integrated network of clinical research sites, acquired Lincoln Research LLC, a Rhode Island-based multi-specialty CRO focused on the medical study of depression, bipolar depression, schizophrenia, smoking cessation, attention deficit and anxiety disorders. That was BTC’s second acquisition in 2016, following its August deal for Novex Clinical Research, LLC in Massachusetts.