Contract research news in brief
pharmafile | October 15, 2010 | News story | Research and Development | Clinipace, Covance, PPD, Quintiles, Synexus, cellectis
Our latest crop of contract research news includes updates from Clinipace, PPD, Cellectis bioresearch, Covance, Quintiles and Synexus.
US contract research organisation (CRO) Clinipace Worldwide says it has been awarded 12 new contract since June ranging from data management, clinical operations, and regulatory consulting to phase I to III clinical trials. The contracts represent a 25-fold increase on the amount of work booked in during the same period of 2009, according to Clinipace, and spanned 10 clients, seven of which are new customers.
PPD says it has consolidated its clinical development operations in Beijing, China, in a new, larger office to support a “growing client base in the country and throughout Asia Pacific”. PPD opened its first Chinese office in Beijing in 2003. Now, the CRO operates research units in Chengdu, Guangzhou and Shanghai, a vaccine research centre in Taizhou and central laboratory unit in Beijing. It also operates in China via BioDuro, a drug discovery outsourcing company that it acquired in 2009.
France’s Cellectis bioresearch has established a US subsidiary in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to promote its products and services into the US market. The company sells genome customisation products, used to generate cell lines for drug discovery, protein production and gene function studies, as well as cell line engineering services.
Covance has set up a partnership with INphoton to allow it to add intravital microscopy to its portfolio of contract research services. The technique, which provides quantitative molecular imaging at subcellular resolution, can be used to study the in vivo physiological effects of drugs, drug distribution and pharmacokinetics, and examine the mechanisms and kinetics of renal and hepatic drug clearance.
Quintiles has named the Seoul National University Hospital as the latest of its Prime Sites – large clinical institutions which collaborate with the contract research organisation in the conduct of clinical trials. SNUH is the CRO’s second prime site in Asia after the University Malaya Medical Centre. The others are Southern California Permanente Medical Group and Washington Hospital Centre in the US, Queen Mary’s College in London in the UK and the University of Pretoria in South Africa.
Michael Fort, the chief executive of UK patient recruitment specialist Synexus, was named Chief Executive of the Year at the finals of the British Venture Capital Association’s (BVCA) Portfolio Company Management Awards earlier this month. Fort secured the award for his role in “managing growth and innovation during the economic downturn … at a time when the pharmaceutical and clinical trials sectors have seen tougher business conditions than in the recent past”, said Synexus in a statement.
Phil Taylor
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