Contract research news in brief
pharmafile | July 6, 2011 | News story | Research and Development |Â Â CIToxLAB, Jubilant, PupPharma, Quintiles, Toxikon, research and development newsÂ
Quintiles helps fund Alzheimer’s drug programme, Toxikon starts building a new facility, plus updates from Jubilant, CIToxLAB and PupPharma.
Quintiles has bought another $1 million-stake in Australian drugmaker Prana Biotechnology to help fund development of a new drug for Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s disease called PBT2 which is currently in phase II trials. The contract research organisation, which has provided CRO services to the Australian firm over a number of years, bought $1 million in Prana shares in June 2010. PBT2 is designed to disrupt the amyloid plaques which characterise Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.
US-based CRO Toxikon has started construction of additional capacity at its facility in Bedford, Massachusetts, which focuses on preclinical drug and medical device development services. The additions will increase space for large and small animal models and create a dedicated unit for surgical procedures, monitoring and imaging. The unit can now provide “full haematological assessments, biochemistry, analytical, and pathology” for customers, the firm said.
Jubilant Discovery Services has signed a three-year agreement with Janssen Pharmaceutica to deliver preclinical drug candidates for multiple drug targets within the neuroscience area. Janssen will transfer some ongoing early-stage projects to the CRO for further development across its R&D network, including a new facility in the USA which specialises in neuroscience and various centres in India [Read more on this story].
A brand new preclinical CRO, called CIToxLAB, has been officially launched in the wake of the merger between French firm CiT and Canada’s LAB Research. The new company has operations on both sides of the Atlantic and is claimed to be one of the top five preclinical CROs with more than 800 staff and annual sales of around $103 million. The combined company specialises in non-clinical safety assessments, large animal research, carcinogenicity, genetic toxicology, reprotoxicology and genomics/biomarkers.
French CRO PupPharma, a specialist in perinatal and paediatric pharmacology, has relocated to the Biocitech research and technology park in Paris from its former home in Romainville. The move, which was completed in May, expanded the firm’s laboratory and animal areas to 170 sq.m.
Phil Taylor
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