Contract research news in brief
pharmafile | June 27, 2013 | News story | Research and Development |Â Â PRA International, Parexel, Quanticate, TKL, WIL ResearchÂ
A round-up of recent developments in the contract research sector, including KKR’s acquisition of PRA, a new Parexel business unit and updates from WIL Research, TKL Research and Quanticate.
Contract research organisation PRA International is to be sold by current owner Genstar Capital to another private equity firm – Kohlberg Kravis Robert (KKR) – in a deal Bloomberg reports is valued at around $1.3 billion. Genstar has owned PRA since taking it private in 2007 in a $797 million deal, so if confirmed the selling price would represent a tidy profit. PRA has more than 5,300 employees located in over 50 offices worldwide and is “one of the fastest growing companies in the CRO sector”, according to KKR. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2013.
Parexel International has set up a new unit – dubbed Parexel Functional Services – for customers interested in outsourcing particular functions rather than a full clinical development programme. The business will offer clinical operations, data management, biostatistics and medical writing services, among others and operate as part of Parexel’s Clinical Research Services division. “Clients increasingly need flexibility when choosing an outsourcing model that aligns with their path to drug development,” said Parexel’s president and chief operating officer Mark Goldberg.
US CRO WIL Research has acquired Ricerca Biosciences’ pharmaceutical services business based in Lyon, France, including an 18,000 sq. m. facility that employs some 280 employees and focuses on safety pharmacology and specialised services including continuous infusion and developmental and reproductive toxicology. WIL said the acquisition strengthens its nonclinical safety assessment capabilities. The managing director of the facility, Stéphane Bulle, will continue to lead the unit, which will “double our capacity in Europe”, according to WIL’s chief executive David Spaight.
TKL Research has started construction of a new early-stage clinical research facility in Fair Lawn, New Jersey which will include a 30-bed Phase I unit and outpatient clinical examination rooms. The facility will also give the CRO an expanded capability for conducting dermatological safety studies. TKL already operates three clinics in northern New Jersey which provide full-service clinical trial management of multicentre Phase II-VI studies.
New partnerships in biostatistics and statistical programming with major pharma companies have prompted data-focused CRO Quanticate to relocate its US headquarters from Boston to North Carolina’s Research Triangle. The Anglo-American company said the relocation is part of a larger global initiative to continue to grow its programming, statistics, medical writing, data management and pharmacovigilance operations. The new US headquarters is scheduled to open in the third quarter of this year.
Phil Taylor
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