In recent weeks Reuters and Bloomberg have reported that Quintiles has chosen the banks that will launch its IPO but, sadly as we’re not familiar with the nameless ‘people familiar with the matter’ cited by both newswires, the stories have proved impossible to confirm.
When Outsourcing-pharma.com put the rumours to Quintiles spokesman Phil Bridges told us – very politely given he’d probably been fielding such questions all day – the firm does not comment on speculation.
And when we asked TPG Capital, one of several private equity groups that owns a stake in Quintiles, we were told “no comment” and advised to contact the contract research organisation (CRO) for more information. So another dead end.
In a final attempt to confirm the rumours we asked Cadiome – a Canadian biopharma that outsourced post-market testing and regulatory affairs support for Brinavess (vernakalant) to Quintiles last week – if it had heard anything. Sadly, however, the firm did not respond.
So rather than repeat unconfirmed rumours or make up our own theories about Quintiles’ future – our money is on a takeover by Lord Lucan, Elvis and Shergar but don’t quote us on that – we decided to see what information the world’s largest CRO has make public.
Global reach
Quintiles’ business is built around its offering in Phase I to IV trial, observational research, market access, IT and outsourced sales services. The firm claims to have helped customers develop 50 of the world’s best-selling drugs.
The CRO employs around 27,000 people worldwide in 80 countries including, in addition to North America and Europe, the following emerging markets:
Africa: Kenya, South Africa, Ghana and Egypt where it claims to have been involved in 250 trials and enrolled 10, 000 patients between 2004 and 2010.
Asia: China, Indonesia, India and Japan where it has run 500 plus trials since 2004 involving as many as 50,000 patients.
Oceania: New Zealand and Australia where it has offered central lab, clinical project management services and regulatory support since 1993.
Latin America: Colombian, Chile, Peru and Brazil where it claims to have enrolled more than 25,000 patients since 2004.
Reader Poll
So the question – with all this in mind – is would you invest in Quintiles if it does launch an IPO later this year?
