Five independent CROs with operations stretching from Eastern to Western Europe have grouped together to form a new entity that will “act as one team and one company,” according to a report from PharmaTimes.

NEOX Europe takes its name from the largest member of the group, Czech CRO NEOX.  Based in Prague, the Czech NEOX has more than 150 staff conducting phase II-IV clinical trials in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The other companies and their respective operating territories are Hungary’s BiTrial (also Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Serbia); Croatia’s SerMon (also Serbia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina); Austria’s MM Consulting (also Germany and Switzerland); and NEOX Poland.

The decision to merge the five companies came from the members’ existing close partnerships, the company said.

“Our current partnership model with companies in other countries needed to be upgraded,” said Pavel Marek, CEO of the Czech NEOX. “Global projects are more and more challenging, requiring well-educated and trained staff. This approach is vital in order to meet the increasing requests and needs of pharmaceutical companies.”

NEOX Europe will offer a range of clinical trial management and monitoring, patient recruitment, site identification and regulatory affairs services to clients in Europe and worldwide. Part of the group’s expansion strategy is to open an office in the U.S. to serve clients there directly.

“We don’t want to run studies in the USA, it is not where our expertise is,” said NEOX medical director Petr Potužník. “Our intention is to show U.S.-based clients that we are experts in Europe, and that it is possible to perform clinical trials in Europe very cost-effectively while still maintaining high-quality standards.”

The group’s reach is further extended by partner companies Secret Files in the Nordic countries, Axonal in France and Belgium, and MediData in Italy, which provide additional country coverage and complementary services.

Including these partners, NEOX Europe will have a total staff of more than 350, with 10 offices in 18 countries, it said. The core group offices are in Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Serbia and Slovakia.

Unified standard operating procedures and processes, as well as advanced training and quality assurance systems, had already been introduced across the group to underpin its partnership activities, the company said.