December 2000 – The CenterWatch Monthly : Volume 7, Issue 12, December 2000

Uphill Growth for Dedicated Sites

Dedicated sites report strong growth in top line revenue. Still, investigative sites perceive an increasingly difficult market that is characterized by intensifying competition, consolidation and pricing pressure.

Current market conditions are stimulating performance-oriented behaviors among investigative sites. But sites believe that sponsor and CRO selection and management practices may be driving undesirable effects in the long term.

Projecting Pharmacogenomics' Impact on Clinical Trials

In order to hedge against the risks associated with pharmacogenomic technologies, pharmaceutical companies are relying heavily on outsourcing.

Thought leaders speculate that, in the long term, pharmacogenomics will influence clinical trial design and the patient recruitment and retention process. Pharmacogenomics' impact will most immediately be felt in the steps sites and IRBs take in order to ensure patient understanding, privacy and security.

CentreStage Europe: Intercern Goes Global

Intercern, a hospital based-SMO headquartered in London, is looking to expand itself beyond the limits of the United Kingdom. As part of this global strategy, the SMO recently founded Intercern Central Eastern Europe. Headed by Dr. Miro Reljanovic, the main office will be located in Zagreb, Croatia - a country untouched by the Yugoslavia civil war. Intercern Central Eastern Europe will initially focus on studies in Croatia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.

Eye On: HIV/AIDS

More than 33 million people worldwide are infected with HIV. It is clear that an unprecedented level of resources and energy are being focused on developing new pharmacological therapies to treat HIV/AIDS. CenterWatch has identified 42 drugs in phase I-III development for HIV/AIDS, representing a $235 million market. There are three principal classes of drugs that target HIV replication. The first major class is one that blocks the enzyme crucial for the HIV virus to produce a DNA copy of itself - reverse transcriptase. Protease inhibitors are the second major class of anti-HIV drugs, and Immune-based therapies are the third area that is being developed.

• Month in Review
• Opportunities Underway
• TrialWatch