Contract research news in brief
pharmafile | June 1, 2010 | News story | Research and Development | CRO, NIB
Irish contract research organisation ICON plc has acquired Timaq Medical Imaging, a Swiss provider of imaging services to pharmaceutical and biotech firms, for an undisclosed amount. The deal will provide “a European base for our medical imaging operations” and allow it to support “even the largest multi-country imaging studies,” said ICON in a statement. The company already operates a medical imaging unit in Pennsylvania, USA. Timaq has particular expertise in positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) imaging.
UK-based CRO Cmed Group has launched a new operating unit, Cmed Technology, to sell and promote its next-generation clinical data capture and management package called Timaeus. The development of the eClinical platform had benefited from its closeness to an operating CRO, said Cmed, but the new unit will now be able to provide Timaeus directly to study sponsors.
US CRO inVentiv Clinical has expanded its Global Alliance, a network of partner companies which was formed last year to help it carry out clinical trials around the globe. Three new partners – Protech Pharmaservices Corporation (PPC), Ecron Acunova and RDDA – join inVentiv’s first collaborator ActivaCRO, based in Argentina. Taiwan-headquartered PPC is well-established in Asia-Pacific region, Germany’s Ecron Aconova provides a European dimension and South Africa-based RDDA covers the African market.
US patient recruitment specialist BBK Worldwide has expanded in Japan via a collaboration with CROee, a Japanese company specialising in enrolment management. BBK opened an office in Osaka last year and said at the time its aim was to accelerate clinical development in Japan, where it takes around 2.5 years longer than in the USA or Europe for new medicines to become available. Patient recruitment is one of the primary reasons for this so-called ‘drug lag’, according to the company. The two companies intend to provide trial sponsors with better access to patients and a more reliable process for site identification and selection.
i3 has expanded in China via the acquisition of Shanghai-based CRO ChinaGate, that provides product-development regulatory services for pharmaceutical, medical device and biotechnology companies looking to enter and access the Chinese market. Terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed. In a statement, i3 said its clients would benefit from ChinaGate’s “on-the-ground presence and expertise in overseeing clinical trials, submitting filings, obtaining licenses and navigating the regulatory process.”
Pacific Biomarkers says it has been awarded a $1.7 million contract by an unnamed multinational pharmaceutical company to provide laboratory testing services in an adaptive phase I cardiovascular trial. This study is part of a major drug-development program to evaluate an innovative new treatment to reduce recurrent cardiovascular events associated with acute coronary syndrome. The CRO will provide biomarker testing starting this month and continuing into the third quarter of fiscal 2011.
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