Through the new collaboration US-based contract research organisation (CRO) Ockham adds trial sites in Russia, Ukraine, Lativia, Lithuania, Estonia and several in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to its network.
In a press statement Ockham CEO Jim Baker explained that the partnership “gives us an opportunity to increase our oncology patient recruitment and provide additional sites for our sponsors."
RCR director Nikolai Nikitin also stressed patient access as a key driver for the collaboration, commenting that: “[The] ability to achieve fast and large-scale patient recruitment is equally attractive to small biotech companies and to large pharma.”
The deal, terms of which were not disclosed, follows just months after US-headquartered Ockham made executive changes at its operations in the UK as part of an effort to expand its European presence.
The agreement is also in keeping with comments made Ockham’s owner, US trial staffing firm ASG, which cited the firm’s expansion potential as a key driver when it acquired the CRO in 2009.
Eastern promise
Growth of the clinical research sector in Russia, surrounding countries and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) as a whole is well documented, with drugmakers turning to CROs operating in the region to reduce costs and boost access to patients.
And, while this has seen a large number of Western CROs set up research centres in the region, in recent times there has been an increase in the number of partnerships between home grown contractors and Western firms keen to tap existing clinical resources.
In May, for example, Russia-based Cogenix joined Health Decision’s network and prior to that ChemDev made a number of acquisitions and formed a partnerships in the region.
And, even prior to the Ockham deal, RCR benefited from the trend. The firm already has deals with Austrian Alzheimer’s disease focused CRO JSW Life Sciences, Hungary’s Clinical Investigations and Germany’s IMEREM.