The contract research organization (CRO) Medpace has been getting good reviews lately. Last spring, the Cincinnati-based firm made our list of the Top 12 Master Providers (CROs and technology companies that serve the space), becoming only one of three private CROs to do so. In June, Medpace was voted the best CRO by investigational sites polled by CenterWatch. Fifty-eight percent of sites classified Medpace as “excellent.”

What's unique? Catherine Soldano, executive director of business development and marketing at Medpace, says the 17-year-old CRO's crown jewel is its relationship with sites. “We put a lot of emphasis on the sites, realizing that they are not just a cog in the wheel, but are as much a customer to us as the sponsors are,” Soldano says.

For instance, Soldano explains, Medpace has clinical research assistants (CRAs) work on only one to two trials at a time—not multiple protocols. “We like them to be extremely knowledgeable about specific protocols, and not constantly doing training” to get up to speed on other new protocols, says Soldano. That raises the level of professionalism on each trial, helping solidify trust between the sites and Medpace.

Fewer Projects

It sounds expensive, if salaried personnel are sitting idle from time to time. But Soldano says it's economical over the long term. “Profitability is not tied to the number of projects per CRA, but to the efficiency of the project team and minimization of turnover and redundancies,” she says. “CRAs and project teams are able to work more efficiently and effectively if they are focused on fewer projects.”

Medpace also keep sites happy by actively asking for feedback throughout trials, which goes a long way toward making the site feel heard and valued, Soldano says. And Medpace tries to make sure turnover is low throughout the company but especially among employees who deal directly with the sites.

Careful Hiring

Turnover is kept low by involving all employees in decision-making, organizing them in teams that are engaged in the process, she says. “They meet frequently—with purpose,” says Soldano, adding that Medpace does not use an outside firm to do its hiring, but instead carefully picks and chooses who it wants on its teams. “Turnover here is virtually zero,” she says.

Though Medpace is private and doesn't release its financial data, analysts who keep an eye on the CRO space say the company's numbers are robust. Eric Coldwell, managing director of health care distribution and services equity research with Robert W. Baird, a long-time observer of the industry, assured us that Medpace enjoys healthy profit margins. Last year, it grew faster than any of its peers on our Master Providers list.

Soldano says Medpace has grown an average of 20 to 30 percent a year, even during the economic downturn. “We are profitable, and we've never had layoffs,” she says.

Partnering CRO

Just over a third of the company's business comes from large pharma, another third comes from mid-sized biotech and the last third comes from small pharma. “That really hasn't changed over the years,” says Soldano. She added that Medpace has always been a “partnering CRO,” forging strategic partnerships with sponsors, but she wouldn't say how many are in place, nor would she reveal whether the number of such relationships is rising as they gain popularity throughout the industry.

Medpace's beginnings go back to 1992. August Troendle—now Medpace's president and CEO—came to Cincinnati to work with Evan Stein on lipid development at the University of Cincinnati. The two had previously worked together at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

When Stein and Troendle worked with CROs in their research, they weren't always pleased. “They thought they could build a better mousetrap,” says Soldano.

Combo Company

So in 1992 they launched Medical Research Services, a lab and CRO. Five years later, Troendle bought the CRO portion of the business, renaming it Medpace in 2000. Medical Research Services' lab, headed up by Stein, was sold to PPD in 1997.

After a few years, Troendle wanted to get back into the lab sector, so he added central lab services to Medpace's holdings. Now Medpace has four central labs. They are in Cincinnati; Leuven, Belgium; Beijing, China; and Mumbai, India. The Beijing and Mumbai labs were opened earlier this year. (Stein re-joined Troendle. He's now a member of Medpace's board of directors as well as chief scientific officer and U.S. laboratory director of the company's reference laboratories.)

Six hundred of Medpace's 1,000 employees are in its Cincinnati headquarters. The rest are scattered throughout Medpace's 14 international offices. About 60 percent of Medpace's trial volume takes place overseas. Its largest overseas offices are in Belgium and the Netherlands, its European headquarters. The company opened new offices in Russia and Poland this year in addition to the new central labs in Beijing and Mumbai.

23 NDAs

Medpace has been an organic grower, preferring not to swell through acquisitions, says Soldano. Regardless, the company announced in November, 2009 that it plans to acquire Switzerland-based and oncology-focused CRO Pharma Brains AG. Medpace won't say how many employees the 14-year-old company has. Also in 2007, Medpace acquired a small CRO in Prague called Monax.

The company has submitted 23 new drug applications (NDAs). “That's a lot for a company our size,” asserts Soldano. The key might lie in Medpace's unusually deep understanding of what the FDA wants. After all, three of the company's top executives came from the FDA. Troendle had been a medical review officer in the FDA's Division of Metabolic and Endocrine Drug Products before coming to work with Stein on lipid development. David Orloff, Medpace's executive director of regulatory affairs, is immediate past director of the Division of Metabolism and Endocrinology Products within the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER). And James Wei, Medpace's director of clinical pharmacology, was a senior reviewer in the Office of Clinical Pharmacology at CDER from 1998 to 2007.

Imaging Lab

Medpace does work in all therapeutic areas, but Soldano says most of the growth of late has been in cardiovascular, oncology, central nervous system and metabolic disease. The company has made a strong push into imaging, launching a medical imaging core laboratory called Imagepace in 2003. In August, Medpace hired Patricia Cole, formerly head of imaging biomarkers at Eisai Global Clinical Development, to be the division's executive director.

“We are in the process of repositioning Imagepace to include a more integrated role within Medpace with regard to the use of innovative imaging in the design of clinical trials,” says Soldano.

And the company's plans for 2010? More growth. “We are already a global organization with 16 offices across all continents,” says Soldano. “We will continue to drive growth organically with depth in those regions as well as pursue acquisitions as they make sense.”

—by Suz Redfearn