Top contract research organization Kendle reported a strong quarter but told Wall Street future profits would be lower than expected. Quarterly revenues jumped 33 percent to $100 million. The company lined up $175 million in new business. But net income slipped five percent to $3.8 million. Costs for the merger with Charles River were one issue during the period. “We are particularly pleased with the strong increase in our operating margin,” noted Candace Kendle, chairman and CEO.  “We look forward to building on this momentum to deliver improved value for our shareholders.” The release is here.

Contract research company Quintiles announced that its Latin American subsidiary has purchased Bio-Trials, a leading Central American contract research organization (CRO) with headquarters in Panama and offices in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Ecuador and Peru. Bio-Trials provides clinical monitoring, clinical site coordination, regulatory support, study management and supply distribution services. Jeff Thomis, president of global clinical development services for Quintiles, said:  “Our customers are increasingly including Central America as part of their global drug development program. The Bio-Trials team will be a welcome addition to our Latin America group.”

Chiltern, a global CRO, announced the acquisition of Clinical Trial Management Services, a Bristol, Tennessee CRO. From February, 2008 the combined operation will be known exclusively as Chiltern. John Vann, previously president and CEO of CTMS, will assume leadership of Chiltern’s U.S. operations, becoming executive VP. Glenn Kerkhof, Chiltern’s chief executive officer, said: “The acquisition of CTMS significantly increases our presence and expertise within the U.S. and strengthens Chiltern’s position as a global CRO. CTMS and Chiltern have compatible cultures and are equally focused on delivering high quality services to the pharmaceutical, device and biotech industries.”

Full service CRO Synteract has opened a new office in Morrisville, North Carolina, in the Research Triangle Park community. The new office is located in close proximity to a large number of emerging biotech, pharmaceutical and medical device companies and will support the company’s east coast expansion. The new office, which will initially house safety and clinical operations personnel, will provide an East Coast location to support clinical monitoring and site management, safety surveillance and project management. The company also plans to grow the office by hiring additional safety associates, clinical research associates, project managers and sales management throughout 2007 and 2008. Synteract’s senior VP of clinical operations and project management, Stewart Bieler, said: “We’re confident that this innovative technology community will benefit from Synteract’s robust information technology capabilities and expertise in clinical operations and safety surveillance processes.”

Take Solutions recently announced a recent drug master file (DMF) submission—created with the company’s PharmaReady product V4.0, the electronic Document Management Solution (eDMS) and electronic Common Technical Document (eCTD) submission solution—passed the U.S. FDA Validation. The DMF was submitted by Dabur, one of the leading Bio Pharma companies based out of Southeast Asia. Prafulla Nandi, joint director of regulatory affairs for Dabur, said: “Take Solutions is excellent in providing the post-sales service, too. PharmaReady lays the groundwork for the journey towards the paperless regulatory submission.”

MDS Pharma Services, a provider of discovery, clinical and development solutions, has moved to a new, larger facility in Beijing to meet the growing demands from pharmaceutical and biotech companies doing clinical trials in China. The new facility offers a five-time increase in testing capacity, four times the space to produce clinical trial kits, and a wider range of specialized clinical trial testing services. This new facility’s proximity to the Beijing airport also facilitates faster transportation of clinical trial samples. MDS Pharma Services president David Spaight, said: “With many pharmaceutical and biotech companies now making China part of their global clinical trial programs, we recognized the need to expand our central lab operations and offer more diverse testing options.”

Many electronic health record (EHR) systems for physicians and hospitals are so awful that they are being ... deinstalled. In a survey, 19 percent of respondents had either deinstalled an EHR or are currently unplugging one. A key reason is that every medical specialty needs its own specialized EHR. In some cases, hospitals are reverting to paper completely. Here’s the story in Modern Healthcare Online.

Covance has hired an external firm to modernize its SAS architecture. The company selected ThotWave for the job. That firm’s Greg Nelson, president and CEO, said: “Covance is sure to benefit not only from the updated technology platform, but also the abilities to address operational challenges, provide improved interfaces for stakeholders across the clinical trial value chain, and provide a platform for innovation for years to come. Covance will no doubt realize an improvement in efficiency and an immense and important return on investment.” Here’s the full story.

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