PRA International has called on Netherlands-based software group Quintiq to help manage the Ph I research projects it takes on and better allocate resources in the challenging early-phase trial sector.
Irish CRO Icon has received a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warning letter relating to two studies of an antibiotic it conducted between 2004 and 2006.
India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MHFW) want to make the collection biometric data from all clinical trial participants standard across the country’s research sector.
India-based CRO Ecron Acunova will support its geographic expansion and strengthen its service offering after receiving Series B financing from OrbiMed’s Caduceus Asia Mauritius.
Synexus has recruited more than 2,000 children in three months for a Phase III rotavirus vaccine study, which it believes validates its methods and demonstrates they are particularly effective in late stage vaccine trials.
Icon is looking to expand its bioanalytical capacity in Asia, notably in China, and bolster its genomics, proteomics and cell-based assay capabilities, according to a VP who discussed diversification of the business.
Icon is currently planning to occupy over a third of the 100,000 sq ft redeveloped hospital in Manchester, UK, which is due to open in 2012 and will become a flagship site for the CRO.
Parexel has entered into an alliance with Mortara Instrument to bolster its early phase cardiac safety capabilities and improve the assesment of new compounds.
Canada’s Biovail Contract Research says its stand-alone biostatistics unit will help sponsors “anticipate roadblocks ahead of time and create a sound statistical analysis plan for optimal results.”
Parexel has established The Expert Office to provide a single point of contact for clients which want the CRO’s team to assist them with optimising all aspects of the clinical trial process
Ohio, US-based CTI Clinical Trial and Consulting Services (CTI) has bought German trial staffing specialist CRS Clinical Research Services (CRS) to build its presence in Europe’s contract research sector.
In Q3 Phase Forward’s revenues from CROs grew by 44 per cent year-on-year and it predicts a bright 2010, as a backlog of delayed trials are started and big pharma attempts to cut IT costs.
inVentiv Clinical Solutions' new Clinical Global Alliance will help meet industry demand for rapid access to “concentrated patient populations” according to CEO Michael Hlinak.
Australia-based CROs, state government and a clinical trails network are collaborating with a Japanese company to encourage businesses to outsource preclinical and early-stage research to Queensland.
Globalisation and “heightened awareness and scrutiny of clinical trials” in the wake of the Northwick Park, UK incident, where some patients suffered multiple organ failure, have had a significant impact on study insurance, according to a MD.
Comparative effectiveness research (CER) represents a “historical market opportunity”, according to a VP at Quintiles who explained that pharmas that do the work will be “properly rewarded for their innovations”.
Encorium has abandoned plans to sell its Finnish unit, Encorium OY, citing its new strategic focus and recent contract wins as the basis for the decision.
Indian CRO Siro Clinpharma has ramped up clinical trial manufacturing capacity at its facility in Mumbai in response to growing demand from pharma and biotech firms.
World Courier has opened investigational drug storage facilities in South Africa and Australia, a move it says is in response to growth in the regions' clinical trials markets.
MDS Pharma Services’ Central Labs division is to be acquired by Czura Thornton, a private investment group that owns Chiltern, for approximately $8m (€5.4m) as part of the CRO’s repositioning.
CROs believe that finding the right principal investigators is the hardest part of recruitment, according to a survey that adds that 80 per cent of respondents would prefer to reach enrolment goals 10 per cent quicker than cut costs by 20 per cent.
French neuroscience CRO Forenap Pharma has won the contract to conduct Phase I trials of an Alzheimer’s disease treatment candidate being developed by Swiss drugmaker Anavex Life Sciences.
ClearTrial has expanded its eClinical offering to create “the only system in the industry” that can provide fast and accurate project tracking, management of accrued liabilities and midstream study adjustments.
Increased use of adaptive clinical trials and biomarkers will benefit smaller laboratory services companies, according to Pacific Biometrics (PBI) that turned its operating income from loss to profit in fiscal 2009.
US CRO Health Decision says the new “Monitor View” module for its HD360 trial management system makes assessing study site performance an easier and more cost effective process.
The Pan-African Clinical Trials Registry (PACTR) has become the first such database to be endorsed by the WHO, providing the world with access to studies on the continent and improving efficiencies.
Quintiles has opened its expanded facility near Edinburgh, Scotland, which has doubled its central lab capacity with the intention of improving the CRO’s service offering in Europe.
A US court has ordered the USDA to disclose 1,017 pages of animal testing documents relating to its investigation into HLS, despite testimonies stating that their release could be detrimental to the CRO’s business.
Improved access to data and the ability for users to share comments are among the features added to latest version of Veracity, an electronic data capture (EDC) system from Kika Clinical Solutions.
Funding increases have failed to boost pharma drug development productivity and, with budgets tightening, the industry must revise its operations to improve output, according to a research paper.
In 25 years most biotechs will be virtual, according to a director of preclinical CRO L2D who formed the company with a “completely novel business model” to target this huge growth opportunity.
Outsourcing to a well known CRO with a good reputation is vital to ensuring that data is well received by regulatory authorities, according to a CEO that just inked a deal for preclinical safety testing.
Russia-based CRO SynRG has cut the time to prepare a detailed proposal from two weeks to two hours, giving the company a competitive advantage over its rivals, and established a presence in the US to target small to mid-sized companies.
The new partnership with Indian CRO Abridge Clinical Research (ACR) is a unique collaboration offering cost efficient and timely trial solutions according to Global Pharmaceutical Services (GPSI) spokesperson Keith Russell.
Encorium has outlined plans to specialise in vaccines, which it believes is an area it can be more flexible than big CROs, and inked a swine flu deal as part of $8.7m (€6m) of new contracts.
US firm PerkinElmer has opened a second plant to meet growing demand for radiolablled compounds for ADME and, it hopes, ultimately help drugmakers make go/no go development decisions earlier.
Drug development partnering site goBalto’s addition of Latin American clinical sites to its database in a deal with Chilean CRO Clinical Trials Support (CTS) is timely given the pharma and biotech industry’s focus on emerging markets.
A new partnership between CenterWatch and TrialX may help boost flagging recruitment rates by “helping patients more easily and rapidly connect with relevant clinical trials.”
Ecron Acunova’s global partnering team had a busy end to July with the Indian CRO entering into collaboration deals on both sides of the Atlantic to further expand its global reach.
