ClinPhone will establish its first office in Australia. The doors are expected to open on October 31, 2006. ClinPhone says Australia has a number of centers of research excellence and research activity, particularly the Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane areas. 

In addition to going public in London this year, the company has recently opened new offices in California and North Carolina, expanded its Chicago operation, and relocated its main U.S. office, in New Jersey, to larger premises.

According to a news release, the Australian offices will provide both business development and operations capabilities to support the Australian and wider Asian markets. Kevin Wightman will head up the new offices as Business Development Director; he will be joined by Luke Stevens, who will fill the role of Technical Project Analyst. 

Wightman has worked at ClinPhone’s UK headquarters for five years and has extensive previous experience of working in Australia and Japan with leading contract research organizations (CROs) and pharmaceutical companies. Wightman says: “There is a huge market potential in the Asia-Pacific region both in the long and short-term.  As well as supporting our Australian clients, the new offices will provide the perfect opportunity to establish our presence in the growing regions of Asia. ClinPhone already works with a number of Japanese companies in both the US and European markets and, through our new presence in the region, we hope to build on these foundations by developing effective relationships with the Japanese head offices.”