Kendle opens more Asia-Pacific offices
pharmafile | June 10, 2009 | News story | Research and Development |Â Â KendleÂ
Contract research organisation Kendle has opened up new offices in Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines as part of a continued drive to access patient populations around the world.
The new centres – in Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Manila – add to a growing stable of locations for Kendle in the Asia-Pacific region, which is among the fastest-growing regions for clinical research.
"With more than half of the world's population, Asia offers an abundance of patients in nearly every therapeutic area," added Dr Ross Horsburgh, vice president of global clinical development, Asia/Pacific, at Kendle.
Top-tier Contract research organisations (CROs) such as Kendle are building their presence in the Asia-Pacific region to serve not only a growing customer base of Asian companies, but also multinationals that are moving their clinical activities overseas in search of cost advantages and new pools of clinical trial subjects.
One advantage of locating in Asia-Pacific countries is the genetic diversity of patients and the high proportion who are treatment-naive, in other words they have not been exposed to prior medications which can skew clinical results. This can be an important consideration in trials for cancer, HIV, hepatitis and diabetes, for example.
Research by D. Anderson & Co in 2007 indicated that Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore are among the most favourable countries in which to run trials. The consultancy firm found their good regulatory environment and effective healthcare infrastructure makes recruiting patients easier.
"[These] governments have highlighted biopharmaceutical development as a key pillar to their economies, resulting in much more favourable environments for global clinical development work," said Horsburgh.
Kendle already operates facilities in China, India, Singapore and Australia.
News of the expansion is a boost for Kendle, which like many of its peers in the CRO sector is suffering from a slump in demand for its services and downward pressure on pricing that is making it hard to reach revenue targets.
Related stories:
Kendle trims down as profits slump
May 15, 2009
Related Content
INC Research to acquire Kendle
Two contract research organisations INC Research and Kendle International are to merge to create a …
Kendle operating income slumps
US contract research organisation Kendle posted a 17% drop in revenues in the first quarter …
Contract research news in brief
This week’s round-up of news in the contract research arena includes a fundraising for Irish …
