Pfizer Selects South African Trial Sites for Partnership Program
The decision to select the sites in Stanza, Watermeyer and Nyeleti, South Africa was determined by the study clinician, based on the history of therapeutic diseases studied there, as well as the “patient volumes specific to that disease therapeutic area,” Sonia Braham, spokeswoman for Pfizer, told Outsourcing-Pharma.com.
Simon Vane Percy, spokesman for Synexus told us the sites focus on patients with respiratory, cardiac and osteoporosis, as well as other illnesses common to the local area.
The INSPIRE (Investigator Networks, Site Partnerships and Infrastructure for Research Excellence) programme provides the sites with early access to Pfizer‘s portfolio data and information on trials to be sponsored by Pfizer. The sites also will work on protocol design, advisory boards and the sharing of best practice across the INSPIRE network.
“All INSPIRE sites are chosen for their excellence in clinical research operations and this is an important network of global institutions with deep experience in clinical research,” Braham said.
Pfizer last month selected Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust as the first UK clinical research organisation to be awarded INSPIRE site status.
Braham said that as part of the company’s deliberations at Davos in 2012, Pfizer needs to identify 100 sites worldwide. The company previously said it selected 60 other sites already.
