Contract research news in brief
pharmafile | February 11, 2013 | News story | Research and Development |Â Â Antabio, Aptuit, Argenta, Cross Country Healthcare, ICON, PPD, Quintiles, Verum.deÂ
Icon offers $52m for CCH’s clinical services division, plus updates from PPD, Aptuit, Argenta, Quintiles and Verum.de.
Irish contract research organisation (CRO) Icon has agreed to buy the clinical trial services business of Cross Country Healthcare in a deal valued at $52 million, boosting its capabilities in pharmacovigilance and drug-safety consulting as well as functional service provision for clinical trials. The deal also includes an earn-out clause which could see Icon pay an additional $3.75 million to CCH based on the performance of the acquired division, which includes the ClinForce, Assent Consulting and AKOS operating units.
Pharmaceutical Product Development (PPD) says it has expanded its testing capabilities at its Brussels and Singapore central laboratories, offering clients additional microbiology, peripheral blood mononuclear cell and molecular pathology services that are already offered at its US facility in Highland Heights, Kentucky. All three labs can conduct extensive virology testing, including real-time polymerase chain reaction, viral load, genotyping and SNP analysis, for customers working on infectious disease projects.
Aptuit says it has started to offer its clients real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) biodistribution studies – which are required as part of the pre-clinical development study package for first-in-man studies of gene therapy candidates by the FDA – at its facility in Verona, Italy. These studies are required by the agency to assess the distribution of the vectors used to delivery gene sequences in target and non-target tissues.
Galapagos subsidiary Argenta has signed a deal to provide France’s Antabio with medicinal chemistry, computer-aided drug design and absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion/pharmacokinetic (ADME/PK) services to assist in the identification and development of novel anti-bacterial agents. Antabio is developing new drugs to work with existing antibiotics to enable them to regain activity against multi or pan-drug resistant pathogens.
Quintiles has been awarded a contract to provide post-marketing pharmacovigilance and regulatory affairs services for Cardiome’s atrial fibrillation drug Brinavess (vernakalant), which is marketed in Europe and some other world markets but was turned down by the FDA in 2010. Brinavess was originally licensed to Merck & Co, but the pharma major returned rights to the drug to Cardiome last September.
German CRO Verum.de has entered into an agreement with the Center for Oncologic Diagnosis and Treatment (Oncocard) in Romania to become a preferred provider of clinical trial services. Oncocard was set up with the first private-sector investment funding in oncology in Romania, according to the CRO, which said it would assist with the running of clinical trials in order to offer patients as wide a spectrum of possible treatment options as possible.
Phil Taylor
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