Lovelace Biomedical launches as preclinical CRO

17-Oct-2016 - Last updated on 18-Oct-2016 at 22:01 GMT

Lovelace Biomedical team members in one of the company's analytical chemistry labs. (Image: Lovelace Biomedical)

Lovelace Biomedical launched this week as a not-for-profit preclinical contract research organization (CRO) with a business model that will let it “put science first.”

“Lovelace has been performing commercially sponsored research for over a decade and now is launching a commercially-facing organization to focus on the unique needs of this client base,” Jake McDonald, PhD, Vice President of Applied Science, Lovelace Biomedical, told Outsourcing-Pharma.com.

According to McDonald, the Lovelace family of companies has 65 years of scientific legacy in different areas of research, which gives the company a foundation to draw upon as it looks to “collaborate with drug developers and create customized services to meet specific needs of each organization.”

The company’s Albuquerque, New Mexico-based facility sits on 100 acres of land with 300,000 square feet of laboratory space and a team of 500 employees, including toxicologists, chemists, veterinarians, pathologists, pharmacologists, project managers and more.

“The launch of Lovelace Biomedical will allow this team to focus on building relationships with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies for preclinical safety and efficacy evaluation, among other services,” said McDonald.

“Creating this stand-alone entity will allow us to expand and tune our operations to meet the specific needs of this community,” he added.

Lovelace Biomedical's services include toxicology, IND-enabling programs, formulation, pharmacology, bioanalytical/analytical chemistry and medicinal chemistry. It also has expertise with a variety of large and small animal pharmacology models, and more than 10,000 square feet of ABSL3-enhanced laboratory space.

“While we work in a wide variety of therapeutic areas, our specific expertise spans the fields of respiratory disease, infectious disease, gene therapy, neuroscience, alternative tobacco products and medical countermeasures, as well as many others,” said McDonald

Putting the science first

“A not-for-profit CRO differs from a for-profit CRO in that operating excess is not distributed to shareholders, operating excess is reinvested back into research,” explained McDonald

McDonald explained that the company uses this to develop novel models, tools and techniques that are enabling to the clients with whom the company works, which enables the CRO to expand into novel research areas.

“Our status as a not-for-profit CRO will allow us to put the science first and pursue innovation without concerns about shareholders,” he added.

“This approach will not limit the type of projects we take on, but rather enables us to offer cost-effective solutions and a constantly evolving toolset to address scientific and technical issues inherent in today’s complex scientific problem.”