Contract research news in brief
pharmafile | July 26, 2013 | News story | Research and Development | Ascendancy Healthcare, CRO Solutions, Clinical Research Advantage, ResearchDx, SPS Pharma Services, VxP Pharma
Quintiles wins multi-year contract in China, CRO Solutions sets up niche subsidiary and CRA buys CNS unit, plus relocations for SPS and ResearchDx.
US-Chinese drug developer Ascendancy Healthcare has signed a two-and-a-half-year collaboration with Quintiles for “product assessments [and] clinical research services, including trial planning and productivity optimisation” in China and other emerging markets. Quintiles will work on therapeutic compounds in-licensed by Ascendancy, said the drug developer in a statement. Financial terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.
In something of a switch from the usual trend among contract research organisations to expand and offer an ever-broader range of services, US company CRO Solutions has launched a new subsidiary – VxP Pharma – to cater for customers who prefer to work with smaller, focussed CROs. The new firm will offer pharmaceutical development services and technical support from discovery through Phase IIb from a network of “smaller, independently owned and operated facilities that focus only on one area of drug development”, said CRO Solutions’ chief executive Raymond Peck.
Clinical Research Advantage (CRA) has expanded its Phase II-IB clinical trial operations with the acquisition of a late-stage trials unit owned by Comprehensive Clinical Development (CCD), which recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The move also takes CRA into a new therapeutic category, allowing it to offer trials in central nervous system indications such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression and Alzheimer’s, said the CRO in a statement. “CCD has an impressive track record in psychiatric trials, and we see it as an ideal partner as we continue to expand our operations”, commented CRA’s chief executive Mark Hanley.
Dissolution-testing specialist SPS Pharma Services has relocated to a new facility in Orleans, France, that is around ten times the size of its former site in Clermont-Ferrand. The increased space means that SPS is now able to “fulfill the needs of its clients who want not only method development … but also a partner for the implementation of routine analysis”, said the CRO in a statement, adding that it also plans to increase its headcount and extend the range of services it offers. SPS noted that it can now handle “pharmaceutical testing all along the way from the development stages until commercial batches and stability studies”.
ResearchDx has relocated to a recently-purchased 30,000-sq. ft. facility in Irvine, California, that will allow the company to expand its in vitro diagnostic (IVD) development services for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, diagnostic and clinical laboratory industries. The firm says it has seen rising demand for its services on the back of the biopharma industry’s increasing need for companion diagnostics used alongside personalized medicines.
Phil Taylor
