Parexel International acquired the California Clinical Trials Medical Group for $65 million.

Founded in 1981, California Clinical Trials Medical Group (CCTMG) has 180 employees and is based in Glendale, California, where one of four facilities has 16 exam rooms. The firm does research in trials from Phase I-IV. CCTMG says it is the only hospital-based Phase I unit in the state of California.

CCTMG, for its part, has worked with most of the largest sponsors in the industry, including Amgen, Astra-Zeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Lilly, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer and Wyeth. Two specialties: sleep studies; and ensuring that clinical data is acceptable to U.S. and Japanese regulatory authorities.

Parexel, for its part, did not issue a statement explaining the purchase. But earlier this year, the CRO enrolled patients in a Phase I trial in London that went awry. In that trial, all six men taking a monoclonal antibody from Germany’s TeGenero were hospitalized. TeGenero disbanded after the incident; Parexel faced no legal sanctions but was faulted for record-keeping lapses by British authorities.