UK CRO Quintiles Transnational has set up an office in Accra, Ghana in a move it claims allows it to recruit trial participants from sub-Saharan Africa’s estimated 760m residents.
US group DZS Software Solutions says its new web ClinPlus CTMS technology will help sponsors and CROs ensure that trial procedures are being followed and eliminate redundant study management systems.
US genomic services specialist Cogenics has launched a new DMET analysis service that it believes will improve patient genotyping during clinical trials, helping drug industry sponsors target the development of new products and reduce costs.
Microsoft is ramping up its efforts in drug R&D for personalised medicine through the acquisition of genomic analysis technology developed by Seattle, US firm Rosetta Biosoftware.
IT solutions firm Merge Healthcare has won the race to buy eClinical specialist etrials, beating previous suitor Bio-Imaging Technologies whose takeover bid collapsed on Monday.
Canadian CRO MDS Pharma Services (MDS) is to sell its Phase II-IV trial business to US counterpart INC Research for $50m (€35m) and focus on providing discovery and early clinical development services.
US Patient recruitment specialist BBK Worldwide has set up a unit in Osaka, Japan to improve enrolment rates for studies in the country and help local pharma and biotech firms cut costs.
US CRO Ockham Development group will start providing customers with data capture and analysis solutions developed by etrials under a new, five year licensing agreement.
There has been “tremendous interest” in Fate Therapeutics’ Catalyst programme, which gives access to induced iPS cell technology as part of collaborative relationship between numerous companies.
Canadian contract services group Patheon will roll out a cell based assay offering that it says will help the biopharmaceutical sector advance the development of the next generation of biologic drugs.
UK CRO Quotient Bioresearch has bought a clinical research facility in Edinburgh, Scotland, which in conjunction with an existing unit in Nottingham, England will serve as a base for its new Quotient Clinical unit.
The increasingly global clinical trial sector demands more effective ethical and regulatory scrutiny according to a study published in the latest edition of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).
CRO Encorium has unveiled plans to sell both its US business and its Finnish subsidiary Encorium Oy just weeks after posting a gloomy set of Q1 financials dominated by a 15 per cent drop in net revenues.
UK software group Cisiv has unveiled a web-based EDC platform, Baseline Plus, which is specifically tailored to meet the demands of post market trials.
Definitive FDA guidance on adaptive trials cannot come soon enough for the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors, according to Perceptive Informatics (PI).
Charles River Laboratories (CRL) has bucked the CRO sector trend and reaffirmed its forecasts for 2009, citing an improved order book and better pricing as the reasons for its relative optimism.
Perceptive Informatics has expanded its offering for trials involving Alzheimer's disease with a new medical imaging method, which it claims produces higher quality, reproducible and regulatory compliant assessments.
US contract research organisation (CRO) Encorium has reported $2m in new and repeat business deals on the same day it posted gloomy Q4 figures and cited the "drop in demand" refrain heard across the trial sector.
US software giant Microsoft has unveiled its new Amalga Life Sciences data aggregation and modelling platform in a bid to capitalise on the demand for IT infrastructure solutions currently sweeping the drug R&D and trials sectors.
German CRO Clinicalprojects International (CPI) will begin providing its customers with the TrialMaster EDC solution though a deal with developer OmniComm.
US firm Kendle is the latest CRO to revise its forecast and blame “unprecedented biopharmaceutical industry conditions,” which are fast becoming an industry catchphrase, for its Q1 woes.
Following calls for increased transparency PhRMA has published its new clinical trial principles, which contain revisions relating to registration, authors and sponsor disclosure.
Indian CRO Siro ClinPharm is teaming up with New Jersey based pharma services firm Advanced Clinical Trial Solutions (ACT) to strengthen its position in the US cancer trial sector.
US clinical trials firm ChemDiv has bought Russian CRO Prudentas, boosting its presence in the country at a time when the treatment naïve populations in Eastern Europe are increasingly catching the eye of the global pharma and biotech industries.
Finding appropriate subjects in the booming trials market is a major stumbling block for drug firms and CROs, according to a new study by US market analysts Cutting Edge Information
From June onwards drug firms and CROs conducting trials in India are required to record full details of the research, including the funding source, on the ICMR’s Clinical Trials Registry India website.
Germany’s XClinical says 2008 was a successful year with a 20 per cent hike in revenues for its electronic data capture (EDC) and clinical data/trial management (CDM/CTM) software.
Cincinnati, US site management organisation (SMO) Radiant Research says that growing industry demand for trials outside the US is the key motivation for the link up with India’s Spectrum Clinical Research.
The past few days have seen a string of announcements from contract research organisations (CROs) which indicate that their appetite for international expansion and development remains unsated.
US company CardioNet, which specialises in mobile cardiac monitoring devices, has made a foray into the contract research sector with a $14m offer to acquire cardiovascular research firm Biotel.
Pfizer has become the first drugmaker to win accreditation for protecting the human rights of subjects enrolled into early-stage clinical trials under a scheme operated by the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP).
Contract drug development group Systems Biology Worldwide (SBW) says the acquisition of Finnish data management specialist 4Pharma will facilitate its entry into the clinical trials sector.
UK CRO Richmond Pharmacology has unveiled a new data management offering for the drug industry that it claims will help trial sponsors cut costs, save time and help guarantee data integrity.
eClinical company etrials saw losses increase in the fourth quarter of 2008, but pointed to a healthy increase in orders as evidence of the underlying strength of the business.
With M&A activity dominating Big Pharma's agenda at the moment, the contract research market is having to evolve and adapt to the turbulent environmnet. Outsourcing-pharma asked Frost & Sullivan analyst Barath Shankar to offer his opinion...
Cardiology and eClinical specialist eResearch Technology missed analysts estimates of sales and earnings in the fourth quarter of 2008, but still posted a near-14 per cent increase in operating profit.
Synexus' new trial site in Bulgaria, which is part of the firm’s clinical research centre strategy, will help sponsors cut development times and significantly reduce costs, according to CEO Michael Fort.
Kendle International posted a 22 per cent drop in net income to $5m, after a computer error led to problems with a clinical trial carried out for one of its customers.
Study site operators want greater use of EDC technologies and more pharma industry investment to boost patient recruitment and reduce delays in clinical trials, according to an industry report due to be published next week.
Contract research organisation Bio-Imaging Technologies posted a 48 per cent hike on revenues in the fourth quarter of 2008, but still made a small net loss on the back of its CapMed division, which was sold last month.
US software specialist etrials Worldwide has added Belgian rival Unithink to an ongoing lawsuit that accuses two former executives, Robert Sammis and Brendon Ball, of breaching confidentiality agreements.
Charles River Laboratories will reduce its workforce by 3 per cent, close its preclinical facility in Arkansas, US and sell off its Phase I trial site in Edinburgh, Scotland as part of a cost reduction programme.
Compass Pharma Services is targeting contract drug developers and clinical research firms with a new microfilling offering that, it claims, helps reduce waste and may even make excipients unnecessary in some drugs.
Russia approved 615 clinical trials last year, a 9 per cent increase over 2007, lending weight to the notion that the country is becoming a global hub for clinical testing.
US company PRA International has entered into a strategic collaboration with two contract research organizations (CROs) in Southeast Asia in order to tap the fast-growing clinical research market in the region.
US contract development firm Azopharma has begun offering microdosing at its AvivoClin facility in Daytona Beach, Florida, joining market leaders like Xeleron and Covance in the Phase 0 trial sector.
Contract research organisation Bio-Imaging Technologies has decided to sell off its CapMed subsidiary in order to focus its efforts on its core business, providing imaging series to clinical investigators.
