The three new clinical development offices are intended to speed clinical trials and develop strategic relationships in these emerging markets, said the company in a statement.
"We will continue moving forward with our strategy to expand into geographies that align our therapeutic focus with investigators that consistently demonstrate high-quality results, regulatory compliance, and enrollment performance,” said Dr. Robert Davie, Covance’s vice president and general manager, clinical development services Europe.
Eastern Europe is increasingly drawing the attention of foreign clinical research investments by virtue of the regions high growth potential.
Ukraine, for example, has a population of around 46 million largely treatment naïve patients and has become a popular destination for trial sponsors and contract research organisations (CROs). The country represents the second largest patient pool (after Russia) in Eastern Europe, according to a just-published market research report from RNCOS.
RNCOS notes that in Ukraine both primary and specialist healthcare is structured around big hospitals with a centralised structure and vertical referral system, which allows principal investigators to recruit patients from a regional population without internal competition.
Moreover, “with a sizeable population still unable to afford costly medications, the number of potential patients participating in clinical trials is expected to be large,” according to RNCOS.
The Israel office meanwhile will provide a hub for Covance’s activities for the Middle East, including Turkey – another fast-growing clinical research market – and Greece.
While Israel’s own population is small, the country also boasts an effective national health and reimbursement system, with 80 per cent of the population covered by the same health maintenance organisation (HMO). That makes patient recruitment and the conduct of trials much easier.
Covance has been providing clinical research services in CEE since 1994 and in Israel since 1995. The new offices are located in Kiev, Bratislava and Tel Aviv.