CRO Solutions Launches Virtual CRO VxP Pharma
The new organisation – VxP Pharma – is made up of a series of independently owned and operated, small and midsized laboratories and development centres for which CRO Solutions provides business development services.
Raymond Peck, CEO of Indianapolis, US-based CRO Solutions, told Outsourcing-pharma.com that: “Small and mid-sized niche CROs need business but cannot necessarily afford an in-house business development force, which is what CRO Solutions and VxP provides for them”
“In an economy where there are fewer early stage projects, we allow small and midsized CROs to concentrate less on business development and more on the science.”
VxP Pharma also provides CRO Solutions with a way of ensuring that the contract services firms it provides with business leads do not end up bypassing the company and working with the drug industry customer directly.
“Another reason we set up VxP,” he continued “is because it allows us to promote particular development services under the VxP label, regardless of the fact that the actual niche laboratories for which CRO Solutions wins business may change.
“Additionally, in some service areas we have more than one CRO to insure that we have full development coverage. For example, because our primary Formulation CRO doesn’t offer Hot Melt Extrusion (HME), we have another CRO who handles only our HME projects, but with our model, all of our services are still marketed under the same VxP banner, so we have brand continuity."
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The VxP model is also increasingly being demanded by drug developers not in a position to establish strategic partnerships with larger contractors according to Peck.
“Pharmaceutical and biotech research scientists throughout the industry tell us that they prefer to work with smaller, focused, Contract Research Organizations (CROs), rather than with the huge multinational 'one-size-fits-all' CROs.”
“For these people, VxP Pharma is a perfect fit because we offer a single point of contact, as well as the confidence that, if you work with VxP, you are working with a state-of-the-art lab that has been subject to a complete audit, including, in most cases, an audit by the US FDA.”
He added that because VxP consists of smaller CROs with skills in specific areas of drug development “clients get all the advantages of working directly with a specialist ‘niche’ CRO, including being able to work with some of the best subject matter experts in the industry."
