Contract research news in brief
pharmafile | November 12, 2012 | News story | Research and Development |Â Â Bay Bioanalytical Laboratory, Bioclinica, Charles River, ICON, Pacific BioLabs, Quintiles, Vital RiverÂ
Acquisitions for Charles River and Pacific BioLabs, a new contract for Bioclinica plus updates from Icon and Quintiles.
Ireland-based Icon has set up a new division called DOCS that will provide functional service provision (FSP) services, a system in which selected portions of the clinical trials process are outsourced to a contract research organisation (CRO) while the client retains control of other areas. The move comes as FSP “continues to grow in popularity as sponsors look for innovative outsourcing strategies that enable them to gain efficiencies and accelerate the development of their pipelines”, said Icon’s president Colin Stanley.
Harvesting patient-reported outcomes (PRO) over the Internet can be a reliable means of generating real-world, observational data, according to a pilot study carried out CRO Quintiles. The findings demonstrate that patients can be recruited, screened and enrolled directly from online patient communities for observational studies that collect PRO and clinical data, with around 75% of physicians contributing medical record (MR) information. “Results of this pilot study are a positive step forward in confirming the viability of the PRO+MR direct-to-patient study approach”, commented study author Elisa Cascade.
Bioclinica has been awarded a contract to supply interactive web response (IWR) and imaging services to Singapore’s TauRx Therapeutics programme of phase III trials in neurodegenerative disorders. The US clinical trial management services (CTMS) specialist will provide IWR for a series of expanded trials of neurology candidates, and also carry out analysis of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans on behalf of TauRx, which has just started a Phase III trial of a tau aggregation inhibitor LMTX in patients with Alzheimer’s disease.
Biological testing specialist Pacific BioLabs has acquired Bay Bioanalytical Laboratory, a contract laboratory that adds analytical and bioanalytical chemistry to PBL’s existing in vivo pre-clinical and microbiological testing portfolio. BBL founder Bob Cunico will take over the position of principal scientist of analytical services at the merged company. Terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed.
Charles River Laboratories has signed a $27 million deal to acquire a 75% stake in China’s Vital River, a provider of research models and related services, with an option to take outright control of the CRO at a later date. “We expect demand for research models in China to significantly increase over the next several years as drug development initiatives in academia, government and biopharmaceutical companies expand,” said CRL chief executive James Foster.
Phil Taylor
Related Content
Cloud on the horizon: Cloud computing and the clinical trial
Originally published in the September edition of Pharmafocus, Matt Fellows investigates how cloud computing may …
Quintiles to merge with IMS Health
IMS Health (NYSE: IMS) and Quintiles (NYSE: Q) have announced that a definitive merger agreement …
Icon to acquire Aptiv Solutions
Icon has acquired US clinical trial specialists Aptiv Solutions for $143.5 million as it looks …
