Accelerated Community Oncology Research Network (ACORN) named Tara Webb as senior director of business development. Webb brings a successful record of establishing and cultivating contract research organization (CRO) relationships. “Tara Webb has an exceptional background of work in the CRO field and is widely respected for her industry knowledge, capabilities and integrity,” said Edward Stepanski, COO. “Her responsibilities at ACORN CRO will include presenting ACORN’s capabilities to pharmaceutical companies and emerging biotechs, forging alliances with key accounts and providing customer service oversight on behalf of clients.” Here’s the release.

Parexel International expanded its early phase drug development capabilities to provide biopharmaceutical companies with dedicated support for proof of concept studies. Parexel’s new unit integrates expertise and capabilities in regulatory strategies, drug development, and clinical pharmacology. “Providing clients with integrated, early phase development strategies and expertise gives them the ability to support early identification and selection of the most promising compounds,” said Herman Scholtz, corporate VP, early drug development, Parexel.

ACM-Pivotal is now offering its KitKaddy and lab collection kits to pharmaceutical, biotech and contract research organizations (CROs) that want to promote their brand at the physician level. The environmentally friendly diagnostic specimen kits have been designed as easy-to-use space savers that help standardize collection. Companies can provide their logo, colors and additional brand elements to be printed on the kits. “Our KitKaddy and lab collection kits are now multipurpose. Not only are they ideal for large safety studies, they provide an additional avenue for sponsors to reinforce their brands to a key audience,” said Elena Logan, VP, clinical trials.

Xentech, a French contract research organization (CRO), has selected ExonHit Therapeutics to be the exclusive provider of genomic services, including microarray-based gene expression profiling, using ExonHit’s SpliceArray technology. John Jaskowiak, EVP of molecular diagnostics and genomic services at ExonHit, said, “We look forward to complementing Xentech’s expertise with drug efficacy studies using their novel human tumor xenograft models with our gene expression profiling services for the identification of response vs. non-response gene signature biomarkers. These response biomarkers may aid in the design of clinical trials as well as potentially decreasing the cost and accelerating the time line of clinical development.”

Southern Research Institute will provide services ranging from technical and operational support for existing biosafety and biosecurity programs. “In today’s highly regulated environment, organizations face a multitude of difficult and complex challenges when it comes to working safely with infectious diseases and biothreat agents,” said John Secrist III, president and CEO. “BioSafety Solutions was formed to help organizations put in place programs that improve safety, reduce costs and increase efficiencies.”

Commonwealth Biotechnologies (CBI) was a key laboratory in developing the DNA forensics methods used to identify the source of the 2001 anthrax letter attacks in the days following Sept. 11. Commonwealth carried out thousands of tests over the course of the investigation, spanning from early 2002 until 2008. The firm has been under a non-disclosure agreement with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). But the firm has received notice that it is now able to disclose its role. “This is the culmination of a tremendous amount of hard work coupled with the innovative insights of the highly skilled talent here at CBI and at the FBI. We look forward to sharing these insights with the scientific community,” said Richard Freer, COO. Here’s the release.  

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