The new office marks the fourth addition to the company's Latin American presence, on top of operations in Argentina, Brazil and Chile - making Parexel one of the largest bio/pharmaceutical service providers in the region.
The company said it was opening the Mexican operations to "meet client demand," and are "always seeking opportunities to meet client needs in additional geographies."
The move by Parexel follows that of other large, rival contract research organisations (CROs) such as Quintiles, PPD and Kendle who are already active in Mexico, as well as the surrounding regions, and also reinforces Latin America as an emerging hub of clinical trial service providers.
Somewhat overshadowed by emerging countries such as India, who are now dominant in the CRO sector, Latin America is a dark horse that is proving durable as a major player in the industry, with significant advantages as regards to location and resources, not to mention the obvious cost reductions, and many CROs consider it the ideal strategic bridge between North and South America.
The 3 major countries that make up Latin America have a large population of 348m people: Argentina (35m), Brazil (213m), and Mexico (100m) and the region's ethnic make-up makes patient enrolment for any clinical study simpler.
Additionally, the main cities of Latin America have National Institutes of Health with adequate facilities, state of art in clinical research and high experience to perform clinical studies of complex methodology in phase II and III, as well as in phase IV.
"Mexico City is one of the most important Latin American centres for bio/pharmaceutical and medical device companies planning to conduct domestic and global clinical research programs," said Josef von Rickenbach, chairman and CEO.