Contract research news in brief
pharmafile | October 16, 2012 | News story | Research and Development |Â Â Cromsource, InClin, Max Neeman International, Medpace, Nextrials, PRC Clinical, Particle SciencesÂ
A round-up of news in the contract research sector, including new contracts for Medpace, Particle Sciences and PRC Clinical, another acquisition for Cromsource and developments at Max Neeman and InClin.
Contract research organisation (CRO) Medpace has won a contract to carry out a Phase II trial of Oramed Pharmaceuticals’ oral insulin product ORMD-001. The trial will examine the safety and efficacy of the oral insulin product in 147 diabetes patients at multiple centres across the US. Oramed said plans to file an Investigative New Drug (IND) application with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) later this quarter.
US drug delivery specialist Particle Sciences has been selected to work on a project aimed at developing a new vaginal drug delivery system for HIV drugs that is funded by the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). The CRO will carry out formulation work for the partners in the project – called MOTIF (Microbicide Optimization Through Innovative Formulation) – and will develop approaches that allow for multiple actives to be incorporated into an intravaginal dosage form.
Cromsource has continued its acquisitive streak with the purchase of PDR Partners, a staffing and recruitment organisation supporting biopharmaceutical and medical device companies based in Bracknell, UK. The move comes just weeks after Cromsource – itself formed by the merger of CROM and MSOURCE in 2011 – acquired US and Scotland-based CRO Pleiad. The latest deal “reinforces [Cromsource’s] capability to support its clients with a full-service portfolio across both Europe and the US”, said the firm in a statement.
Indian CRO Max Neeman International has expanded its presence in the Asia-Pacific region by setting up operations in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. The firm said these countries are good locations for clinical trials because they provide access to a large population of treatment-naïve patients across a number of disease areas. It estimates that the new units boost its potential clinical trial population by around 200 million patients.
PRC Clinical said it has been awarded a major new contract to carry out a Phase IIb trial of an unidentified orphan drug. The study is expected to enrol patients from 50 centres across the US and Canada, according to the CRO.
California, US-based CRO InClin will implement Nextrials‘ Prism clinical trial data management platform to help it to “accelerate study starts and significantly lower drug development costs”. InClin chief executive Dirk Thye said that the Prism platform “can significantly shorten the length of time it takes to initiate and monitor a clinical trial”.
Phil Taylor
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