Despite being the world’s second largest market, Japan’s trial sector is underdeveloped compared with other countries in the region meaning that it often takes years longer for drugs to gain marketing approval than elsewhere.
This problem was highlighted by Japanese Society of Medical Oncology president Kazuo Tamura who said in a JNCI paper earlier this year that: “[In Japan] the cost of trials is high and infrastructure is poor compared with other Asian countries [and that this is] discouraging industry-sponsored trials.
Recognition of this problem was the key driver for US-based BBK and Tokyo-headquartered CROee new partnership which, the firms said, is specifically designed to enhance patient recruitment.
Jeremy Buchman, BBK regional manager in Asia-Pacific, explained that: “[his firm’s] planning and patient recruitment services will be complemented by CROee’s operational and local expertise.”
CROee president Sho Ando was equally positive about the partnership, adding that: “One immediate result of the partnership will be the ability to offer research sponsors a more reliable process for site identification and selection.
Ando explained that BBK’s physician database, the BIO NotifierSM, combined with CROèe’s patient database, will serve as a resource to help clinical trial sponsors quickly and efficiently find appropriate patients and investigators.
And beyond this, Ando hopes teaming with BBK will “introduce global standards of patient recruitment and analysis to the Japanese market and to contribute to an increased public understanding of clinical research.”
BKK Has operated in Japan since last year when it set up an office in Osaka at the hear of the country’s pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical devise development industries.