In the latest move 3 per cent of INC's total workforce - 34 workers at Raleigh - have been laid off, according to local newspaper reports.

An injection of local development funding worth almost $15m over several years prompted privately-held INC to add nearly 1,100 jobs across the CRO in areas such as management, clinical research staff, data and information technology and administrative support.

INC said that the round of job cuts was a minor correction to bring staffing to appropriate levels, and no reflection on the potential of the ambitious growth plan. The grants are dependent in part on job creation, and INC Research has to meet performance targets to receive annual payments, which will continue for up to nine years, according to a company spokesperson. It also has to invest around $18m of its own money in the expansion.

The CRO would not be drawn on staffing plans in North Carolina but says that it is still "growing" and "strong".

Cold comfort for those laid off perhaps, but on the positive side North Carolina is enjoying something of a boom in its CRO sector and, for now, jobs are likely to be plentiful.

This growth in contract clinical research is mirroring the expansion of the Research Triangle Park complex near Durham, the largest research park in the US and home to 136 research-based companies including GlaxoSmithKline, Biogen Idec and Eisai, but also recognises that there are upwards of 300 small and medium-sized biotechnology companies in the state. These smaller companies tend to tap into CRO expertise rather than carry out their own clinical testing in-house.

Just last month, Canadian CRO Patheon announced it was shifting its corporate headquarters to the Triangle and would also be building a new laboratory in the state, hiring around 100 new staff in the process.

PRA International has shifted its headquarters to North Carolina from Virginia, adding 500 staff, and Quintiles Transnational is building a new headquarters in Durham and plans to double its headcount in the area to 2000.

Smaller CROs are also expanding. Pharmanet also opened new clinical site in Cary, North Carolina, recently which is to house over 100 clinical and data management personnel. And Rho Inc said recently it had added 100 new staff in recent months, bringing its headcount in the Triangle area to around 300.

INC, meanwhile, has been on an acquisitive spree in addition to growing organically in recent quarters, so it is perhaps no surprise that a correction in employment levels is warranted.

Last year it forged a joint venture agreement with GVK Biosciences to boost its presence in India and acquired Advanced Biologics, a CRO in the Philadelphia area with expertise in the area of infectious disease. It also opened an office in Switzerland and, back in 2005, expanded into Europe via the purchase of NDDO Oncology.