WCT opens larger trial material depot in St Petersburg

Worldwide Clinical Trials (WCT) has opened a clinical trial material storage depot in St Petersburg, Russia citing increasing customer demand.

Natalia Krupinina, the contract research organisation’s (CRO) director of depot and logistics services said the additional space provided by the 1,300 square meter facility will help the firm run more trials in Russia and neighbouring countries.

Our new depot allows us to further increase our capacity in clinical trial materials handling in Russia and the former CIS” Krupinina said, describing the region as somewhere that offers “considerable advantages for patient accrual and retention.”

She told this publication that: "We see the number of clinical trials increasing as a result of local, Russian, pharmaceutical companies developing new molecules and testing the bioequivalence of generic compounds.

"International pharmaceutical and biotech companies also continue to conduct clinical trials in Russia due to the availability of high quality data and strong patient enrollment. We have expanded our facility to address the overall increase in demand." 

WCT has conducted clinical trials in Russia for 25 years.

The Russian depot is the first major investment WCT has made since opening a data management and biostatistics hub for clinical trials in Nottingham, UK in February.