Quintiles opens expanded research facility in London

Quintiles today announced the opening of its expanded research facility in London, UK, increasing its Phase I capacity and extending its ability to drive progress in translational medicine.

“Declining productivity in research and development means that the biopharmaceutical industry is under intense pressure to increase efficiency and overcome complexity”

With capacity for 35 patients and healthy volunteers, the extension brings the total number of Phase I beds in London to 105 and globally to 385. This is expected to increase further in late 2010, with the opening of a Phase I unit in Hyderabad, India, initially with 50 beds, and with capacity for expansion to 100.

“Declining productivity in research and development means that the biopharmaceutical industry is under intense pressure to increase efficiency and overcome complexity,” explains Eddie Caffrey, Senior Vice President, Global Phase I at Quintiles.

“Effective early-stage development can have significant impact on speed and cost of the overall development process. Our customers need a holistic solution that combines fast and cost-efficient regulatory studies with advanced scientific expertise and techniques such as modeling and simulation, biomarkers and microdosing for more complex studies.

“With our expanded facility in London and our planned facility in Hyderabad we will be better able to provide an integrated Phase I research solution that facilitates robust decision making early.”

State-of-the-art electronic data capture and automated workflow systems link Quintiles Phase I facilities around the world, to provide harmonized data and reporting across multiple sites.

Located on the 14^th floor of Guy’s Hospital in central London, the unit is adjacent to one of only five Biomedical Research Centres (BRCs) in the UK. BRC status and funding is awarded to leading NHS and University partnerships, by the government, to drive progress on innovation and translational research in biomedicine. Quintiles will work closely with experts from the BRC as appropriate, to drive forward the translation of science onto the wards -from ‘bench to bedside’.