Synexus expands in South Africa
The increased capacity will come from the building of two purpose designed sites in Mamelodi and Soshanguwe, as well as an expansion of the existing facilities in Pretoria.
Synexus expanded in the South African market in 2006 through the acquisition of CRC SA and now regards the country as one of its most successful sites.
Dr Sanet Aspinall, South Africa country manager, said: "We are able to carry out a wide variety of clinical studies involving both outpatients and inpatients through our own hub sites, our 36 bed unit as well as affiliated general practitioner and hospital based sites.
“Since 2006 we have been able to increase turnover by more than 60 per cent as being part of a global clinical trials organisation has given us the opportunity to be involved in many more global studies."
The Pretoria facility is being expanded into the adjoining building, creating a 562 sq m outpatient site for clinical trials. Negations are underway to establish the locations of the new sites, with Synexus hoping to have the facilities completed by March 2009.
Synexus’ current operations in South Africa cover paediatric vaccines, osteoporosis, women's health and post operative pain, across Phases II and III. Upon completion of the expansion Synexus will employ 25 clinically trained staff in South Africa.
From these facilities Synexus will continue to recruit for and run clinical trials on behalf of pharmaceutical and biotech companies.
Benefits of South Africa
Synexus has operations in the UK, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, India and South Africa, holding the latter in particularly high regard. Michael Fort, Synexus’ CEO, attributed this to the high number of patients it has recruited in the country and the quality of clinical trials performed.
Recruiting in South Africa is relatively quick as the population is genetically diverse and treatment naïve. The country also has a stringent regulatory process to ensure patient safety.
