Quintiles forms new hospital alliance
headquarters in North Carolina, from where it has begun running
clinical trials on experimental drugs.
The contract research organisation (CRO), which had actively been looking for a new hospital from which to run some of its trials, formed the alliance with Washington County Hospital in October, although it was only announced recently.
The trials are being run from the hospital's Center for Clinical Research and involve the testing of new drugs or combinations of drugs, surgery approaches, and medical devices and procedures.
No specific detail has been given as to the nature of the trials, although The Center for Clinical Research has a wide experience in cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory disease areas and over the past two years has also been specifically studying back pain, diabetes, anaemia and the side effects of chemotherapy.
Under the new contract, Quintiles is covering the costs of running the trials although it is not making any form of payment to the hospital for the use of the premises.
The hospital alliance will provide Quintiles with new access to patients at a time when pharmaceutical companies and CROs are struggling to recruit clinical trial volunteers, particularly in the US, and it is expected that between 25 and 50 trials will be conducted at the site next year.
North Carolina is a particular hotspot for biotechnology research and development activity and the US state has been ranked third in the nation for its biotech and life sciences industry for the past three years in a row by Ernst & Young.
Seventy percent of the numerous life sciences companies operating in the region are conducting research and development; 20 per cent are involved in production and manufacturing; 17 per cent offer contract research and testing; and 17 per cent are addressing medical device opportunities, according to a recent survey conducted by NCBIO - the trade association for North Carolina's bioscience industry.
Over 69 per cent of these companies are developing human health products, with 50 per cent in therapeutics and seven per cent in vaccines.
Among companies developing products for FDA approval, 41 per cent are in preclinical stages of development, 22 per cent have products in Phase I clinical trials, seven per cent have products in Phase II trials, 15 per cent have products in Phase II trials, and 15 per cent have approved products on the market.
More than half of the companies said they expect to hire additional employees in 2007, while 42 percent expect to stay the same, said the survey.
Quintiles itself is headquartered in North Carolina and has recently begun a major expansion at the site that will add 1,000 new jobs at the location, doubling its employee headcount in the region.
The firm said it will spend over $10.1m over the next six years to fund the expansion in Durham and in addition, an undisclosed private developer will build an additional $50m facility nearby that Quintiles will lease.
In August Quintiles also announced plans to open a new US clinical data processing centre in Williamston, North Carolina.
The large investment being planned by the world's number one contract research organisation (CRO) is a sign of the firm's confidence that the currently booming clinical research outsourcing industry will continue to grow.
