Clinipace, a technology-driven clinical research organisation (CRO) based in North Carolina, has acquired fellow US CRO Worldwide Clinical Research (WWCR) for an undisclosed sum.
The combined company, which expands on Clinipace’s core expertise in clinical research software and raises the CRO’s global profile, has been renamed Clinipace Worldwide. It will offer fully integrated technology-based clinical research solutions and services to growth-oriented and mid-tier biopharmaceutical and medical device companies, Clinipace said.
Together, it noted, Clinipace and WWCR have managed more than 70 contract research projects conducted globally with 100,000 patients at nearly 3,000 sites. “Having honed our expertise on electronic data management services, we felt it was critical to expand both our clinical operations expertise and global presence in order to support our growth,” commented Jeff Williams, chief executive officer of Clinipace.
WWRC’s primary services include protocol development, preparation and submission of product approval and clinical trial applications, site selection, global project management, clinical trial monitoring, and drug importation, storage and customs management. The company started managing clinical trials in Latin America in early 2001, subsequently opening offices in Buenos Aires, Argentina in September 2005 and Sao Paulo, Brazil in March 2006.
The merger will add more than 30 staff to Clinipace, which retains its corporate headquarters in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, supplemented by domestic operations in Overland Park, Kansas and a South American presence in Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires and Lima, Peru. Barbara Geiger, president and chief executive officer of WWCR, has been appointed executive vice president of clinical operations for Clinpace Worldwide.
The company has seen triple-digit growth over the last 12 months and “is expected to continue to hire in all locations throughout 2010 to support its growing CRO business”, it said.
