QPS Holdings, a CRO providing testing services to support preclinical and clinical research and development, announced the completion of its acquisition of Xendo Drug Development (XDD), headquartered in Groningen, The Netherlands.

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Bostwick Scientific, the clinical trials division of Bostwick Laboratories, a global central anatomic pathology laboratory, announced a partnership with American International Biotechnology Services(AIBioTech.)

Together, these two organizations offer capabilities in anatomic pathology and molecular biology, microbiology, virology and protein chemistry services for the biopharmaceutical industry.  These services are offered individually or can be integrated to support product development from discovery-to-market. 

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PharmaNet Development Group, a global contract research organization (CRO), announced a strategic collaboration with Abacus International, one of the largest independent health economic consultancies in Europe.

The strategic collaboration builds on the organizations’ common purpose of supporting the development of research-based evidence throughout the drug/device lifecycle to document a product’s clinical and economic value.

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Washington, D.C.-based BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH) is expanding to the West Coast with the opening of a new San Francisco headquarters. The expansion provides BVGH the opportunity to work closely with biotech and investor communities on both coasts.

Jacqueline Papkoff, PhD was appointed vice president of Global Health Connect, a new network created to link biopharmaceutical companies with product development partnerships, academics, NGOs, developing country researchers, and other experts involved in product research and development for neglected diseases. Nadine Weich, PhD was appointed senior director of Scientific Affairs. 

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The Association of Clinical Research Organizations (ACRO) has commended the long-awaited privacy rule issued by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), saying the proposal strikes an “appropriate balance” between protecting patients and allowing researchers access to health information critical for drug safety monitoring and comparative effectiveness studies.

ACRO raised concerns with various governmental agencies about a provision in last year’s Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) legislation, which greatly expanded the privacy provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The provisions had the potential for making post-approval research on drugs more difficult by discouraging the creation and use of health care databases.

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Indicators that the industry is rebounding continue to roll in. The latest: venture capitalists are spending more on biotechnology companies than in any other sector, and that spending is increasing nicely.

According to the July 16 MoneyTree Report, produced quarterly by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association based on data provided by Thomson Reuters, biotech saw a huge, 59% spike in the amount of venture capital (VC) dollars coming in—$1.3 billion—in the second quarter of 2010 versus the first quarter. The number of deals—139—jumped an impressive 34% in the same time period.

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ePharmaSolutions , a Philadelphia, Pa.-based provider of clinical research services, has completed a research survey of over 205 clinical researchers in 18 countries who administer psychometric rating scales to measure the improvement or worsening of symptoms in psychiatric and neurologic clinical trials. Survey highlights: 82% prefer to be trained by a scale author or someone expert in the field, and 90% feel interview skills training prior to site activation helps improve the ability to accurately rate subjects. “Some of the results were quite fascinating and provide much better insight into the global needs of site raters,” said Dr. Theresa Bromley, ePharmaSolutions’ associate director of rater services. The company conducts several research surveys with investigative sites every year to help improve site adoption of its technologies and services. It provides niche clinical services to help improve the way sites are selected, trained, activated and supported to commence clinical trials and meet enrollment goals. ePharmaSolutions has activated and trained more than 185,000 clinical researchers in 107 countries for the top 20 pharmaceutical companies around the world.

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Healthcare software company Bio-Optronics and Clinical Research Associates (CRA) have developed a strategic relationship to provide a solution for a clinical research site’s patient recruitment needs, which couples Bio-Optronics’ Clinical Conductor Clinical Trial Management System (CTMS) and Clinical Research Associates’ patient recruitment offerings. Clinical Conductor CTMS is an enterprise workflow system for organizing the daily activities involving clinical research. Users can automate their regular routine to track the necessary metrics to maintain a viable research business, create efficiencies to take on more research with the same personnel, negotiate contracts, and efficiently recruit patients. “More sites have been proactively coming to us looking for ways to recruit faster, run trials more effectively, reduce costs, and be more marketable to sponsors,” Bio-Optronics Vice President Maria Durkin said. Clinical Conductor allows sites to leverage data about protocols and patients and provides the ability to quickly identify potential study subjects within an existing patient database. CRA specializes in patient recruitment and appointment scheduling for the clinical research industry.

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Saint Joseph’s Translational Research Institute (SJTRI) has opened a new 18-bed phase I unit on the campus of Saint Joseph’s Hospital in Atlanta to focus on cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and orthopedic studies.

The idea for the unit was hatched last year when Kristy Nichols, president and CEO of two-year-old Atlanta CRO Peachtree BioResearch Solutions, bumped into SJTRI President and CEO Nicolas Chronos at a Georgia BIO International meeting. “Kristy mentioned looking for a good phase I unit that her CRO could work with,” said Charles Romano, SJTRI’s new director of phase I research. “Dr. Chronos said, ‘Really? I’ve been wanting to start a phase I unit.’ And the rest is history.”

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Pharmaceutical services company United BioSource Corporation (UBC) will use its newly-secured $150 million line of credit to fuel its fast-paced growth and acquisition spree, CEO Ethan Leder said in an interview with CWWeekly.

Privately-held UBC, based in Bethesda, Md., has made four acquisitions in the past 18 months, expanding its scientific and medical affairs portfolio aimed at helping life sciences companies develop and commercialize their products. In addition, UBC opened offices in Germany and Japan this year and now has more than 1,400 employees in 21 countries.

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