CRO Covance of Princeton, N.J., and BML, a Japanese laboratory testing company, will expand the Covance-BML Clinical Trial Laboratory (CB Trial Lab) in Kawagoe City, Saitama Prefecture, to enhance the capacity and capabilities in the region. The companies, which opened the lab together in 2010 as part of a five-year agreement, will launch several new expansion-related services this month.

“The expansion of the CB Trial Lab speaks to both the success of our affiliation with BML and the growing drug development relationships we have built with our clients in Japan and across the Asia-Pacific region,” said Jonathan Koch, global general manager, Covance Central Laboratory Services.

“This investment is an important step in growing our relationship with Covance and allows us to offer clients a wider range of services in an increasingly competitive marketplace,” said Kazuta Fukuda, president of BML.

The lab expansion includes increasing the size of the original facility by 50% while adding new testing platforms, equipment and additional sample storage space. Specifically, new laboratory testing platforms have been added to enhance the capacity of the CB Trial Lab to manage the growing demand for in-country testing services. These new service offerings in the areas of immunoassay, flow cytometry and protein chemistry will speed results to physicians conducting clinical trials.

The CB Trial Laboratory is accredited by the College of American Pathologists (CAP) and maintains CDC lipid certification as well as National Glycohemoglobin Standardization Program (NGSP) Level 1 certification.