PRA Health Sciences, a global CRO headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., is enhancing its global phase I patient strategy and increasing its clinical footprint with the expansion of its early development services (EDS). These initiatives are being undertaken in response to market demand to include patients as early as possible in early phase clinical trial development and include:

• Opening an 11,000-square-foot outpatient facility at PRA’s Salt Lake City site, focusing on psychiatry, neurology, pain and multiple other therapeutic areas. The new facility includes a dedicated pharmacy, clinical lab and surgical suites.
• Further enhancing PRA’s U.S. patient capabilities and service offerings by implementing proven operational site models in the Marlton, N.J., facility similar to those utilized in the patient pharmacology services operations in Central and Eastern Europe.
• Expanding PRA’s patient pharmacology services into Russia. The first clinical trial application recently was submitted for a rheumatoid arthritis patient study and approval is expected in April.
• Expanding PRA’s human abuse liability (HAL) study capabilities at its Lenexa, Kan., site, positioning PRA as capable of conducting these specialized trials in more than one clinical pharmacology unit.

PRA EDS is a business unit of PRA Health Sciences, offering full-service phase I and phase I-III patient site services. Global capabilities include: eight clinical pharmacology units, two bioanalytical laboratories, as well as dedicated clinical pharmacology, statistics, data management and pharmacokinetics services.