2017 tied 2011 for the company’s second-highest number of hires in a single year, according to the global contract research organization (CRO).
In addition to hiring new employees, the company has also been focusing on ongoing training and career advancement for its existing staff, as it experiences an increasing demand for its products and services.
Geographically, the company has seen the most sales growth over the last year in North America – a trend which it expects to continue in 2018, Toshinari Ohara, PhD, CEO of Sekisui XenoTech told Outsourcing-Pharma.com.
“We have seen strong demand across all of our research service areas, although a particularly high percentage of recent inquiries have focused on our drug-drug interaction expertise following the new FDA and PMDA DDI guidance documents,” he explained.
Ohara also said the company has seen strong demand across its in vitro test system offerings.
“In particular, requests for our CryostaX hepatocytes increased following the recently awarded patent, as have orders for our Research Biobank disease-defined liver tissue preparations because of their value for NASH research,” he added.
Darren Warren, PhD, who was appointed as the company’s new chief operating officer (COO) in October, told us the company is anticipating 10% or higher growth “for at least the next couple of years.”
“Considering our long-standing DDI expertise and the FDA, PMDA and upcoming EMA guidance, drug-drug interaction studies and consulting will likely remain in particularly high demand,” he added.
Warren said the company will also be announcing new test system products following demand for both legacy and recently introduced products in addition to custom preparation requests.