Synexus to acquire Clinpharm

07-Dec-2009 - Last updated on 07-Dec-2009 at 10:33 GMT

Related tags Synexus Eastern europe Europe

Synexus has agreed to acquire Clinpharm, giving it access to 10 clinical trial sites in Germany, Austria and Ukraine and increasing its patient population reach in Europe by 100 per cent.

By using advertising and marketing initiatives, instead of relying on individual doctors, Synexus claims it can significantly increase clinical trial recruitment rates. To support this Synexus needs access to large populations, which it will obtain by acquiring Clinpharm.

Synexus will add eight sites in Germany, mainly in the east of the country, one in Austria and another in Ukraine. Gaining capacity in the countries, in which Synexus currently has no sites, will bring numerous benefits to Synexus, according to Michael Fort, the company’s CEO.

“Germany is a very, very important market”, Fort explained to Outsourcing-Pharma, adding that acquiring sites in “one of the big five pharma economies” will give Synexus the capacity and flexibility to meet client demands.

The sites in Germany account for the bulk of the deal but gaining capacity in Austria and Ukraine is significant for Synexus. Fort stated that the site in Ukraine “opens up a whole new geography” and it and Austria strengthen Synexus’ presence in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).

Synexus views CEE as an area of significant importance to its clients and its operations in Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria will now be bolstered by sites in Austria and Ukraine.

As well as boosting patient population reach the Ukraine site also “opens up slightly different therapeutic areas”, according to Fort. He added that the site will help Synexus recruit patients for rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes trials.

Integration and expansion

The deal to acquire Clinpharm is the biggest Synexus has undertaken, increasing the number of sites it operates from 16 to 26, but despite the scale of the deal Fort believes integration will be relatively straightforward.

Clinpharm has a similar model to Synexus and consequently Fort expects the companies’ recruitment and trial activities will be “on the same page from day one”. This will be supported by standardisation of IT systems and administrative functions.

Synexus has some experience of this process, having previously acquired Poland-based CLCC and South Africa-based CRC SA, and is planning on adding more sites in the future.

Fort said that “serious steps” have been made to gain sites in India and this could be achieved in the next three to six months. Furthermore, in the first half of 2010 Fort intends to start looking at mainland China in response to client interest in conducting trials there.