The US contract research organization (CRO) set up the BioPharm unit last month in a bid to win business from the small and midsized developers that – the firm suggests – control 60 to 80 per cent of the biopharmaceutical sector’s intellectual property.
Specific services include clinical development, logistics, monitoring and data management, as well as access to the MyTrials information technology suite that Parexel launched in June.
The idea according to Goldberg is that small firms need a dedicated partner because the “fate of a smaller company may pivot on the success of a particular program, and we must execute with an urgency that is commensurate with the responsibility for success that we carry in these relationships.”
“We have functioned as the development department for small and emerging companies – a trend that only emerged much later with larger companies. We are now able to apply best practices from our strategic partnerships and deliver them with the right scale, dedication, and oversight to meet the needs of small and emerging companies.”
Matchmaking?
With this track record of working with large and small companies in mind Outsourcing-pharma.com asked Goldberg if - given the right circumstances – Parexel would help the firms that work with the BioPharm unit to find partners and potential financiers to take projects further.
“We would never approach other firms without an explicit request from a client because our primary responsibility is to protect our customer’s intellectual property. Having said that, if asked, we certainly are well networked in the pharmaceutical and financing community, and we are happy to leverage this network on behalf of clients as appropriate.”