Deals and developments in the CRO sector
Synexus completes CliniPharm takeover
UK trial recruitment specialist Synexus has completed its acquisition of German clinical research group ClinPharm, adding 10 dedicated research sites in central and Eastern Europe to its network.
The deal, which was first mooted in December, includes ClinPharm centers in Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Austria and the Ukraine and, according to UK-based Synexus, gives it access to an additional 30 million potential trial subjects.
The Manchester recruitment specialist claims that: “No other patient recruitment organisation can compete in terms of size or scale,” and added that the ClinPharm deal has increased the numbers of patients it can access worldwide by 50 per cent.”
However, according to CEO Michael Fort, Synexus has plans to further expand its network over the next 12 months.
“We certainly won’t be resting on our laurels in 2010, we are expecting significant developments in relation to India and China, two countries where the clinical trials market is growing incredibly fast and we plan on being an important part of that.”
GVK is newest member of RPG network
Indian contract research organisation (CRO) GVK Biosciences has joined the ResearchPoint Global Network (RPG), expanding the US group’s presence in the sub-continent’s thriving trials sector.
Hyderabad headquartered GVK operates five trial sites across the India which, as a result of the new partnership, will be integrated into RPG’s trials network which encompasses 65 countries around the world.
Matt Walker, Executive Vice President of Marketing and Business Development with ResearchPoint said: “RPG is strategically expanding our global footprint with qualified, like-minded CROs who have extensive drug development experience across a broad range of therapeutic areas”
“GVK Biosciences has built an exceptional reputation as a full-service clinical service provider in India and we look forward to leveraging their deep local knowledge for the benefit of our clients.”
GVK’s president, Manni Kantipudi, said: “This partnership enables GVK BIO to participate in global trials while focusing on local investigators/recruitment and leveraging lower local costs.
“Together, we hope to offer faster patient recruitment and access to our complete suite of functional services including Clinical Data Management, Medical Writing, and Biostatistics.”
Clinipace wins NitricBio contract
US CRO Clinipace Worldwide has won the contract to oversee trials NitricBio’s topical nitric oxide gas drug delivery (gNO) technology.
The deal, announced late yesterday, will see Clinipace provide data management, statistical analysis and medical writing services for two Phase II studies as well as the full suite of trial services for two Phase III programmes.
The gNO technology is being developed as a way of treating and preventing fungal, bacterial and parasitic infections as an addition to NitricBio’s wound-healing device technology.
Explaining the contract award, NitricBio CTO Tanya Rhodes said: “Clinipace Worldwide offered the global experience and full-service expertise we were looking for in a CRO partner,” and added that “their approach towards a fully-integrated technology-driven clinical research model will help us drive greater trial visibility, more project control, and, ultimately, lower costs for each of our four trials.”
