Contract research news in brief

in-PharmaTechnologist.com presents its round up of the latest developments in contract research, including CTI partnering to access Latin America, Encorium signing contracts worth $13.5m and Omnicare setting up in Sweden.

CTI enters Latin America through Akron partnership

CTI Clinical Trial and Consulting Services is partnering with Akron Clinical in an attempt to expand into the Latin American market.

Over the last two years CTI has made alliances with Canada-based ASKA Research, Indian company Neeman Medical and Australian contract research organisation (CRO) Clinical Network Services in an attempt to expand its global reach.

As part of this latest deal the two companies will combine their services and experience to provide a more complete package for their clients.

Timothy Schroeder, president and CEO of CTI, said: “Latin American expansion is important to serving our clients in the best way possible.

With the addition of Akron Clinical, we know we are partnering with a company with the experience and the attention to detail that CTI strives to maintain.”

US-based Akron has an office in Buenos Aires, Argentina and is planning to set up in Chile and Brazil from where it will assist contract research organisations in performing clinical trials in Latin America.

It also provides Phase I-IV clinical development services to biotech and pharmaceutical companies.

Encorium secures contracts worth $13.5m

Encorium has signed $13.5m worth of contracts over the past few weeks, including $3.5m of new contracts with a global biopharmaceutical company.

The biopharmaceutical company has not been named but it is known the contract covers clinical trials of vaccines that will take place in multiple European countries.

Revenue from this contract will begin to be realised in the current quarter with the remainder being paid on a performance basis as project milestones are reached.

Kenneth Borow, Encorium Group’s president, said, “In aggregate, these new contracts represent both repeat and new client business and cover a wide array of therapeutic areas for multiple small as well as large biopharmaceutical companies.

Encorium will provide clinical trial services for these studies on three continents including North America, Europe, and South America.”

Omnicare continues Scandinavian expansion

Omnicare Clinical Research has opened an office in Stockholm, Sweden, building on its presence in Scandinavia.

The company already has a presence in Denmark and Finland, in addition to the 29 other nations in which it operates.

Omnicare sees Scandinavia as a region with potential for “future growth” and already has partners in the area.