Veeda opens Ph I unit in Malaysia
The new 28 bed unit, which is located at Ampang Hospital in the capital Kuala Lumpur, will provide support for early-stage clinical development projects, the first of which are due to start in the next few months.
Veeda set up the facility in collaboration with a team from Malaysian Ministry of Health which, according to group medical director Maurice Cross, was critical to its successful completion.
“Without the help and support of Tan Sri Ismail Merican, the then Medical Director General, Dr Lim Tek Ono and Dato’ SC Teoh in the early days this project would never have got started.”
This was echoed by Goh Pik Pin from the Ministry of Health, who added that: “It is very difficult, sometimes, to integrate the approaches of private CROs and Governmental agencies but…we have succeeded and now look forward to beginning a planned series of studies intended to stretch and develop the Unit's capabilities."
Malaysia pharma development
The Malaysian Government has courted the contract research sector in the last few years in an effort to strengthen its clinical infrastructure in
This has seen, since 2009, companies such as Kendle, Novotech, Quintiles and, most recently, Siro Clinpharm set up a variety of early and late-stage clinical research capabilities in the country.
Veeda, like all of the other recent additions to the Malaysian research sector, cited the rules that govern clinical trials in the country as particularly attractive and a key driver for the investment;.
It said that: “Regulatory and start-up times in Malaysia are very favourable even when compared with the Western Countries and are far faster than many evolving countries.”
The firm also said that the National Disease Registry as a key factor in the decision, explaining that it makes the identification of patient populations “especially easy and efficient."
