The new subsidiary company in Taipei will act as a hub for business activity across the country and the wider Asian market to support existing and new clients, and which Miroslav Reljanovic, CEO of Ergomed, told us is currently a “buoyant” market.
Miroslav Reljanovic, CEO of Ergomed, said: “The Taiwan operations are in line with our strategy to expand in Asia through organic growth and acquisitions as stated at our IPO [initial public offering]…It is important for our clients in Taiwan to have local on-the-ground support integrated with an international drug development capability, and we can now provide that very effectively through our Taipei office.”
The Taiwan operations will be led by the new Executive Director Global Clinical Operations, Dr Sy-Shi Wang, who worked previously at US biotech companies with responsibility for all global strategic and executional aspects of clinical development.
Reljanovic also told Outsourcing-Pharma.com that Ergomed already have employees at the site and are currently hiring. “We expect the full team to be in place by the end of Q2,” he said.
“Ergomed has particular expertise in the clinical development of oncology, immunology and orphan drugs. This along with its Co-Development Business - where Ergomed leverages its expertise and services in return for carried interest in the drugs under development – are areas of focus for the Asian operations,” Reljanovic told us.
Wang added: “Taiwan is a market with tremendous potential and home to some of the world’s most progressive, forward-thinking organisations in biopharma development.”
Contracts and Results
The shift to Asia comes as Ergomed has been racking up the contracts back in Europe. Most recently the company entered into a co-development agreement with Dilaforette for the Phase II clinical development of sevuparin in patients with Sickle-Cell Disease (SCD) experiencing acute Vaso-Occlusive Crisis (VOC). Ergomed also has deals in place with CEL-SCI, Synta Pharmaceuticals, Aeterna Zentaris and Ferrer.
“We continue to advance our co-development pipeline, and were pleased to announce our fifth co-development agreement, and first co-development agreement in orphan drug development with Dilaforette for SCD treatment after the period end. We are looking forward to the clinical study results planned to be announced in 2016 from our co-development portfolio, including two Phase III studies and one Phase II study due next year,” Reljanovic said.
The contract awards come as Ergomed recently unveiled that its revenues were up 40% in 2014 to £21.2m ($31.4m), while gross profit was up 16% to £5.8m ($8.6m) when compared with 2013. The company’s backlog as of the 1st of March is approximately £60m ($82m).