Contract research news in brief
pharmafile | June 20, 2012 | News story | Research and Development |Â Â Analytical Solutions Inc, Metanomics Health, PMG Research, Quintiles, Scripps Research Institute, Tergus PharmaÂ
Quintiles sets up Chinese HQ, plus updates from BMS/Scripps, Metanomics Health, Inclinix/PMG and Tergus Pharma.
Quintiles has said it will establish a regional headquarters for China in Shanghai, and also boost its laboratory facilities in the country via a joint venture with Shanghai Clinical Research Centre (SCRC). The contract research organisation (CRO) will invest $14 million to establish the 4,000 sq. m. headquarters, which is expected to employ more than 450 staff within the next five years. Meanwhile, under a joint venture agreement, Quintiles will engage SCRC to provide lab testing services to local customers. The JV follows last year’s launch of Kun Tuo, Quintiles’ local CRO.
Bristol-Myers Squibb has formed a five-year collaboration with the Scripps Research Institute in which the latter will provide chemical synthesis services to provide “novel synthetic intermediates and analogues for biological evaluation against BMS targets”. Financial details of the deal are not available, although Scripps inked a similar five-year deal with Pfizer in 2006 that was valued at the time at around $100 million.
BASF has said will offer the suite of early drug safety testing tools developed by its Metanomics Health subsidiary as a service to third-party companies. The service – called MetaMap Tox – includes various predictive toxicology tests that can identify potential safety risks for compounds more quickly and accurately. The platform has been technically validated by the Drug Safety Executive Council (DSEC), via a consortium of 12 leading biopharmaceutical companies, and meets a ‘key unmet need’ in drug discovery, according to Metanomics managing director Tim Boelke.
CRO Inclinix has completed a merger with fellow US company PMG Research to create an ‘end-to-end’ clinical trial recruitment specialist. “This novel business combination will allow sponsors and CROs to bundle the two most important services in a trial: world class sites and patient recruiting,” said Tobin Geatz, who will serve as the combined company’s president and chief executive.
Topical pharmaceutical specialist Analytical Solutions Inc (ASI) has installed a range of new equipment, recruited additional expertise and changed its name to Tergus Pharma to reflect its focus on dermatology drug development services more closely. Tergus is the Latin term for ‘skin’, says the North Carolina-based company, which says it can now offer clients “a broader range of topical drug development services from concept to commercialisation”.
Phil Taylor
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