The 52-bed facility, transferred to PPD as part of an acquisition from Bioclinica, is located in Orlando, Florida and is expected to boost the company’s capabilities on early (Phase I and Phase Ib) clinical research in neurology, including special patient populations, such as elderly people.
Outsourcing-Pharma will be hosting a webinar focused on the topic, which will be broadcast on December 10, 2019. Register for free to the Clinical Trials in Special Patient Populations webinar through this link.
The acquired unit has a strong track record of recruiting and conducting trials on neurological indications, and the demand “appears to be growing,” a spokesperson for PPD told us.
More specifically, the spokesperson noted that there is rising demand for clinical studies on neuro-degenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, which affect elderly patient populations.
“Uniquely, the PPD Orlando site can recruit patients as part of early development trials,” the spokesperson said, adding that “sponsors have the ability to evaluate the potential of their molecule in a target population allowing them to advance to more costly larger Phase II trials or stop development sooner.”
Moreover, the unit consists of individual bedrooms, providing privacy and calm to patients and their caregivers.
Scott Dove, VP of early development at PPD commented that the Orlando acquisition enables the company to expand its capabilities in neuroscience “to study patient populations more reflective of the products.”
The announcement of the acquisition comes shortly after PPD expanded its portfolio to include ethno-bridging studies, focusing on Japanese patients, in order to support drug developers looking at the emerging Asian market.
With this latest addition, the company increases the number of its clinical research units to three, with the other two located in Las Vegas and Austin, Texas.