Contract research news in brief
pharmafile | December 8, 2010 | News story | Research and Development | Cell Trends, Laboratory Corporation of America, PPD, Parexel, Patheon, Quintiles, Texcell, Unithink, contract research, contract research organisations
Our round-up of recent development in the contract research sector includes updates from Patheon, Parexel, PPD, Quintiles, Unithink, Texcell and Lab Corp of America.
Contract research and development firm Patheon has announced the departure of chief executive Wes Wheeler, saying that it needs new management to realise its full potential. Peter Bigelow, president of Patheon’s North American operations, will serve as interim chief executive while the company searches for a replacement.
Parexel International has opened a new clinical logistics services facility in Singapore, along with an ancillary warehouse in Russia, that it says will support its clients “in more effectively managing their global clinical trial supply requirements”. The depot in Singapore distributes clinical drug candidates, as well as ancillary supplies needed for trials. Meanwhile, the Russian warehouse is intended to store any non-drug material required for clinical trials in Russia.
Contract research organisation PPD Inc has named Elena Logan as senior vice president of its global central laboratories, leading the company’s central lab operations across three continents. Most recently Logan served as divisional vice president at ACM Global Central Laboratory, where she was in charge of sales and operations and a member of the executive management committee.
Quintiles has teamed up with London Genetics, a specialist in the use of pharmacogenetics in drug discovery and development, to offer services to companies developing personalised medicines. Financial terms were not disclosed. Under the non-exclusive alliance, Quintiles and London Genetics will collaborate to help biopharma companies take advantage of pharmacogenetic solutions, including novel biomarker and assay development services.
John Cline, formerly head of eClinical software company eTrials, has joined Belgium’s Unithink as chief executive. Unithink was set up five years ago to develop eClinical software and techniques that could be deployed by small as well as large organisations carrying out clinical research.
French company Texcell, which specialises in viral safety and immunology services, has acquired small US CRO Cell Trends in order to expand its presence on the other side of the Atlantic. The combined firm will have revenues of more than $9 million a year and a work force of more than 50
The Federal Trade Commission in the USA has challenged the $57.5 million acquisition of clinical laboratory testing company Westcliff Medical by diagnostics specialist Laboratory Corporation of America which was completed in June this year. The FTC maintains that the transaction could harm competition in the lab market in Southern California. Meanwhile, Lab Corp has now completed its $925 million acquisition of the genetic testing business of Genzyme.
Phil Taylor
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