MDS named top clinical research company in Europe
pharmafile | August 1, 2006 | News story | Research and Development |
MDS Pharma Services has been named Europe's best provider of clinical research services in a survey of trial investigators.
Conducted by Thomson CenterWatch for the June edition of its publication CenterWatch Monthly, the poll of researchers working at 356 European investigative sites put MDS at the top.
The survey was carried out between January and April 2006 and investigators were asked to rate the contract research organisations (CROs) with which they have worked over the past two years on a wide range of attributes.
Seventy nine per cent of those surveyed gave MDS Pharma Services either good or excellent ratings, and the business received excellent ratings in 14 of 28 attribute areas – more than any other clinical research organisation (CRO).
MDS Pharma Services was rated excellent in the key area of organisation and preparation by 54% of the responding sites, more than any other CRO. Organisation and preparation was the most desired attribute in a CRO, with 83% of respondents rating it as very important.
The company also out-scored other CROs in every other section in the category, and excelled particularly in timeliness of drug availability, professionalism of the medical staff, grant payment fairness, realistic timelines, and quality of communications with sites.
President of MDS Pharma Services David Spaight said: "We consider our relationships with investigators to be absolutely critical to getting clients' studies recruited on time and on budget.
"MDS Pharma has distinguished itself as a CRO that excels at helping clients succeed through exceptional service. The recognition we've received is a great honour and shows that, thanks to the professionalism and deep commitment of our staff, we are building a world-class market-leading provider of drug discovery and development solutions."
Global CROs dominated CenterWatch's survey, with more than a quarter of sites reporting they worked with at least one of just six companies: Covance, ICON, MDS, Parexel, PPD and Quintiles.
In addition to MDS, the survey also singled out ICON and PPD for particular praise.
ICON was rated either good or excellent by 77% of respondents, who also highlighted the company's success at using technology efficiently – for which it was the highest rated company – and holding informative investigator meetings.
Meanwhile, trial investigators awarded PPD their highest ratings for good protocol design and simplicity of case report form design, areas thought to be very important to success by more than two-thirds of sites surveyed.
