Chiltern has chosen Portugal for the location of its latest global expansion, with the opening of a new office in the country's capital, Lisbon. Company employee Ricardo Diaz will head up the new office as country manager. "
The conditions were right for us to open this new office.
In the past two years, we have seen rising interest in the region and increased demand for full clinical operations support in Portugal ," said Diaz.
" Chiltern continues to invest in expanding our geographic footprint to support our sponsors' demands ," added Lewis Cameron, executive vice president of Europe.
" Quick patient enrollment and the small number of competitive trials add to the overall benefits of in running clinical studies in Portugal ."
Meanwhile, the UK-based contract research organisation (CRO) has also recently taken steps to boost its business dealings in Latin America, a location that it expects operations to " grow rapidly ", with the appointment of Oscar Podesta to the role of General Manager, Latin America, where he will be responsible for the strategic development of the region.
" Argentina and Brazil have long been considered the premier countries for clinical research in Latin America and the strong collaboration between sponsors, CROs, and academic organszations has created a large pool of highly qualified investigators ," said Podesta.
" Furthermore, regulatory authorities in Argentina (ANMAT) and Brazil (ANVISA) have taken an active role during the last 10 years in establishing a strong legal framework for the ethical conduct of clinical trials in the region, insuring that the highest possible clinical data is attained in accordance with both good clinical and manufacturing practices ."
John Vann, company executive vice president of the Americas added that in recent months, there has been an increasing amount of interest from sponsors to conduct trials in this part of the world, " thus the time was right for Chiltern to establish operations in the region ".
Recently, Veeda Oncology , the newly-established subsidiary of Indian CRO Veeda Clinical Research, has acquired Biologie et Industrie, a French CRO also focused on oncology research.
The company bought the Paris-based firm for an undisclosed amount in order to bolster the Phase I to IV services it can offer its global customers in the oncology field, in terms of global reach.
Veeda Oncology now has facilities in the UK, India, Germany, Belgium and France.
According to Binoy Gardi, group managing director of Veeda, oncology is among the fastest growing areas of clinical research with 60-70 per cent the trials in India Being conducted in this field.
In other news, Icon Clinical has recently opened new clinical research operations in Edinburgh, creating 60 new jobs in the process.
The facility in South Gyle is Ireland-based Icon's first Scottish location, with the company choosing the location for its " excellent infrastructure and highly skilled labour force ."
Meanwhile, Pharmanet has also just inaugurated its new clinical site in Cary, North Carolina, which is to house over 100 clinical and data management personnel.
Previously the two divisions operated from two separate locations but the new, combined and enlarged facilities will give the firm the capacity to double its headcount as and when required.