Celerion, a provider of early clinical research, has expanded clinical operations to South Korea. Through a partnership with Seoul National University Hospital (SNUH), the new Asian office is located within the SNUH Clinical Trials Center, giving Celerion and its clients access to the 80-bed clinical research unit, particularly geared toward clinical pharmacology, oncology and pediatrics.

The new Asian office will be overseen by John Horkulak, executive director, Eurasian site operations. Horkulak brings over 20 years of experience in managing clinical pharmacology studies in patient populations to this role.

The focus of the SNUH Clinical Trials Center is translational medicine, aligning with Celerion’s strategic vision to provide effective global services that support growing interest in complex early clinical studies, often involving patients. In addition, Celerion has built relationships and audited three other clinical trial centers in South Korea to support the need for multi-site early clinical studies in patients often requiring confinement. 

Over the past 10 years, the South Korean government has provided funding and resources to create a network of well-equipped hospital-based clinical trial centers as a focus for training and growth in clinical pharmacology. Through Celerion, clients will have access to patient populations suitable for participation in early clinical research in oncology, HCV, cardiovascular (atherosclerosis and hypertension), diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis, pain, psychiatric conditions, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, asthma and COPD. Celerion’s partners will provide experience in pharmacogenetics and ethnic bridging studies in Asian populations. 

Professor Yung-Jue Bang, M.D., Ph.D., president of the Biomedical Research Institute at SNUH, director to the Clinical Trials Center, said, “The partnership enables us to participate more actively in global drug development programs as well as supporting the early clinical research needs for the emerging Korean drug discovery industry.”