Three contract research organisations (CROs) spanning Australia and New Zealand have pooled their resources in an effort to attract more clinical trials to the region.
The strategic partnership – called Trialliance – involves Clinical Network Services (CNS) and CPR Pharma Services, with headquarters in Brisbane and Adelaide, Australia respectively, as well as the Aukland, New Zealand-based BELTAS.
The rationale is that pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies can get their clinical trials up and running more quickly in Australia and New Zealand than in the mainstream markets of Europe or the US.
That is the promise behind the Fast2Fast brand, which has just been launched by Trialliance at the BIO-Europe 2010 partnering conference in Munich, Germany.
“Our region is best-placed globally to conduct clinical trials that deliver results to the highest quality in a timeline unparallelled in the traditional clinical centres in the Northern Hemisphere,” commented Professor Tony Webber, founder and chief executive officer of CNS.
Gerard Dunne, managing director of BELTAS, said the three companies had their own core areas of strength but “very similar” philosophies about customer service.
“We will be leveraging this depth and diversity, and matching our competencies with our countries’ pragmatic regulatory systems,” he added. “This will add tangible value, particularly in early phase human testing, where we help our clients to realise faster go or no-go decisions.”
Fast2First has access to a network of Phase 1 units, clinics and hospitals across two countries and to a suite of clinical trial services “unmatched in the region”, the partners claim.
The combination of clinical and data management services with a Good Laboratory Practice-standard bio-analytical laboratory offers a seamless transition from first-in-human to Phase III trials, with a single point of contact and one master service agreement, they said.
“This kind of relationship efficiency and decreased administrative burden is increasingly demanded by companies, which to date have had to look to larger, global CROs to achieve this,” noted Russell Neal, chief operating officer of CNS.
