The facility is located adjacent to Covance’s biomarker centre of excellence and nearby to its largest central laboratory. Locating the biorepository in the same area as the other facilities allows Covance to leverage its biomarker and central laboratory capabilities and simplifies transport.
"By adding this biorepository to our existing central laboratory facilities, we are able to quickly store samples from our central labs and biomarkers work as well as samples from other sources”, said Deborah Tanner, corporate senior vice president at Covance.
The contract research organisation (CRO) said that pharma and biotech need comprehensive providers of long-term storage and future testing services. This demand is driven by the globalisation of clinical trials and regulatory requirements covering the retesting of specimens.
Covance has experience of clinical trial specimen testing and storage which enables it to manage the entire lifecycle from specimen extraction to final destruction, said Tanner. This minimises risk when shipping and moving specimens.
The CRO will provide clients with complete consultation services from specimen and project management experts. Scientific and medical guidance on developing assays for future testing will also be provided.
The biorepository
Capabilities at the biorepository include storage at -20ºC, -70ºC, -80ºC, and -150ºC vapour phase liquid nitrogen. Specimens Covance will store at the facility include plasma, serum, whole blood, DNA, peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) and tissue.
Measures have been taken to ensure specimens are safe. The site has “unsurpassed safety and security features” and can withstand winds of 300 miles per hour, says Covance. This is the equivalent of an F5 tornado, the highest intensity. Greenfield tornado activity is above the US average.