Clininvent Research Private Limited, a clinical research provider headquartered in Mumbai, India, has signed a collaboration agreement with Melbourne-based not-for-profit Cancer Trials Australia (CTA) under which the partners will offer complementary services to clients in India and Australia.

CTA is a member-based network of research institutes and hospitals in Australia that conducts clinical trials in oncology on behalf of investigators and sponsors from the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. 

The tie-up with Clininvent will leverage CTA’s experience in Phase I clinical studies and the Indian company’s track record of managing multi-site trials, large-scale patient recruitment, optimal Good Clinical Practice and protocol design compliance, the partners said.

“We expect that this collaboration will be highly advantageous to our clients as it allows for a seamless transition from a Phase I centre to a network that includes sites in both India and Australia,” commented Marcus Clark, chief executive officer of Cancer Trials Australia. 

Significant efficiencies

He promised “significant efficiencies” for clients through CTA and Clininvent pooling their resources on trial design, ethics and governance management, site initiation and study monitoring.

Clininvent’s experience in managing late-phase oncology trials will enable the collaboration to reduce lead times for study approvals and start ups, while continuing to ensure a “high and timely” level of patient recruitment, said Dr Arun Bhatt, president of Clininvent.

The Indian company is a subsidiary of TCG Lifesciences Limited, an integrated drug discovery and development research services company that is itself part of the New York-based Chatterjee Group.