Parexel has opened two new offices in China, increasing its presence in the Asia-Pacific region to 17 locations, in order to meet growing demand for clinical development and regulatory consulting services from drug sponsors looking for more opportunities to include China in global drug development strategies.

The global CRO recently opened offices in Chengdu and Guangzhou as part of the company’s focus on strengthening its presence and clinical development services in the Asia-Pacific region. In China, Parexel also has offices in Beijing and Shanghai as well as Kowloon, Hong Kong.

While Parexel does not typically report employee numbers by country, the CRO has about 1,600 employees throughout the Asia-Pacific region. The CRO has centers in other Asia-Pacific countries, including Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.

Parexel opened the new offices at a time pharmaceutical companies are increasingly interested in China as an end market for their products. China is positioned to become the fifth largest pharmaceutical market this year and is expected to reach approximately $47 billion in size by 2013.

As a result, clinical research growth is accelerating in the region and China has become an attractive market for biopharmaceutical development. “Foreseeing China’s potential for clients, Parexel was a pioneer in establishing a firm foundation for clinical development in the country. Further expansion of expert resources in Asia is designed to meet client demand for greater opportunities to include China in their global drug development strategies and obtain China market registration,” said Josef von Rickenbach, chairman and CEO of Parexel.

Parexel is one of several global CROs developing operations in the Asia-Pacific region, with particular focus on China, to help drug sponsors take advantage of the many opportunities the region offers. Access to large patient populations, low costs, an expanding medical infrastructure as well as the opportunity to market drugs in the region have driven rapid growth of clinical research in the area. “China is attractive for global clinical development activities for several reasons, including significant savings on overall clinical trial cost,” said Mark Goldberg, M.D., chief operating officer of Parexel. “The cost of conducting trials in China can be one-third of the total costs in the U.S. due to lower per patient costs.”