Another Encorium deal has bitten the dust. The beleaguered contract research organization (CRO) recently announced that its recent attempt to sell its Finnish subsidiary Encorium OY to an unnamed CRO in the U.S. is scuttled. In a release, the company stated that, on the heels of $8.7 million in new business…more...

The contract research organization (CRO) PPD unleashed enough news for a year this week. The company announced a long list of new directions, ominous numbers and strategic shifts, including: • The company's quarterly earnings (not great, but not terrible); • The planned acquisition of the Chinese CRO Excel PharmaStudies, which will…more...

Trio Clinical Research may not be in the rapid growth mode it was forecasting last year when its owners sold a majority stake to two equity groups. But things are moving along nicely for the contract research organization (CRO) and research staffing hybrid. Kurt Mussina joined the company as senior VP…more...

The economy isn't getting Quintiles down. The mammoth contract research organization (CRO) just announced that it has consolidated its operations in Scotland into one brand new, state of the art, built-to-suit, 115,000-square-foot building. The new structure cost about $15 million to build. Quintiles is renting. Tom Wollman, senior VP of global…more...

What's to become of the contract research organization (CRO) industry while the economy attempts to right itself? According to a recent report by Frost & Sullivan, there's good news: the CRO industry will likely keep growing. In the current climate, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are unlikely to invest in in-house capabilities…more...

Target Health's president Jules Mitchel has been having a great year. His small, New York-based contract research organization has been posting some numbers that far larger contract research firms would be very happy with. “We have three approvals with EDC this year already,” Mitchel notes, referring to his customer’s progress in…more...

Atlantic Research Group (ARG) has become the first U.S.-based contract research organization (CRO) to join up with Pharmaceutical Services Network (PSN), a tightly knit, Netherlands-headquartered group of small to medium-sized CROs in Europe. The thrust of the network? To provide small CRO service (read: high quality and much personal attention) to…more...

Just two months after selling off Phase IIb-IV operations to Inc Research, MDS has announced that it's trying to sell everything else it's got left in the clinical research sector. Earlier this week, the Toronto-based firm announced it was looking for buyers for what remains of MDS Pharma Services. That includes…more...

When thinking of the term bottleneck, the study-specific confidential disclosure agreement (CDA) comes to mind for many who work in clinical research, followed by site feasibility forms. Those confounding but necessary documents create all manner of frustrating delays, says Edward Stepanski, chief operating officer of Accelerated Community Oncology Research Network, a…more...

The biotechnology sector may be stumbling. Even so, Synteract, a medium/small contract research organization (CRO) that works almost exclusively with biotechs, is doing fine. No, 2009 won't be 2008, when the company experienced 35 percent growth. But 2009 won't be terrible, either. Synteract CEO, president and co-founder Ellen Morgan projects 8…more...