vivoPharma opens US preclinical facility

13-Sep-2011 - Last updated on 14-Sep-2011 at 11:43 GMT

Australian preclinical services firm vivoPharma has opened a new vivarium and laboratory facility in the US as part of an effort to expand its global reach.

The contract research organisation (CRO) said it plans to use the new preclinical services unit in Hershey, Pennsylvania as a “sounding board for building new business engagements and maintaining strong relationships with existing clients in the US.”

The US opening comes just a few weeks after vivoPharm partnered with Michigan-based contract services firm MPI Research in a deal designed to further the development of effective oncology models for preclinical research.

At the time company VP of global development Fernando Felquer told Outsourcing-Pharma.com “This partnership will bring in revenue which in effect opens up the US market for us,” adding that an “alliance with a large American CRO will help to put us on the map.”

US preclinical market

vivoPharma is one of a number of non-US preclinical research organisations to have expanded in North America over the last 12 months citing the market's revenue potential as a major motivation.

Last August, for example, UK-based firm Cyprotex bought US counterpart Apredica, highlighting the firm's position in the US ADME toxicity testing services market as the major attraction and predicting sales growth as a result.

This forecast was confirmed last month when Cyprotex revealed that the performance of its US operation was the key to the 43 per cent increase in revenue it achieved in the second quarter.

Also, in June this year French preclinical CRO CITox launched CIToxLAB, a new organisation formed following its acquisition of Canadian preclinical CRO Lab Research in April.

Speaking ahead of the launch CITox executive chairman Jean-Francois Le Bigot told Outsourcing-pharma.com that a key driver for the acquisition had been LAB’s facility in Laval, Canada from where his firm “can serve the entire North American market.”

And, more recently another UK-based preclinical CRO and discovery services provider, Selcia, opened a new facility in Massachuesetts. Again the firm said that growth of its US business was the main reason for the expansion.