PPD Inc. was honored for excellence in clinical research for the ninth year in a row in Life Science Leader magazine’s 2020 CRO Leadership Awards, according to a news release.

The Wilmington-based global contract research organization was recognized by pharmaceutical and biotech professionals surveyed for the awards.

"The awards honor contract research organizations (CROs) that meet or exceed their customers’ expectations, and this year, PPD earned recognition for its capabilities and quality in two small pharma categories," stated the release.

"The company has pioneered the development, implementation and scaling of a purpose-built, customer-facing delivery model to address the specific needs of the growing biotechnology sector. PPD Biotech is devoted to Phase I-IV clinical development solutions for biotech and small to midsize pharma companies," officials said in the release.

The awards are based on survey responses from industry leaders. There were 60 CROs assessed this year on more than 20 performance metrics by Industry Standard Research in its annual CRO Quality Benchmarking survey.