US-based contract research organisation (CRO) Kendle International continues to expand its presence in the Asia Pacific region, announcing new office openings in Kuala Lumpur ((Malaysia), Bangkok (Thailand) and Manila (Philippines).
Chairman and chief executive officer Candace Kendle said the CRO’s higher profile in Asia Pacific countries “enhances opportunities for patient access, creates efficiencies in the clinical development process and overall strengthens Kendle’s ability to foster global strategic alliances with the leading companies in the biopharmaceutical industry”.
The company has been active in the region since 1988 and had already established offices in Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai, China; New Dehli and (most recently) Ahmedabad, India; Singapore; and Sydney and Melbourne, Australia.
Kendle also noted the growing importance of Asia Pacific markets to the clinical research sector worldwide. Recent research by the Tufts Center for Drug Development in the US indicates that, within the next three years, as many as 65% of all clinical trials regulated by the Food and Drug Administration will be conducted outside the United States, with a “significant number” of these studies moving to Asia, the CRO pointed out.
“With more than half of the world’s population, Asia offers an abundance of patients in nearly every therapeutic area,” commented Dr Ross Horsburgh, vice president, global clinical development – Asia/Pacific. “Furthermore, governments have highlighted biopharmaceutical development as a key pillar to their economies, resulting in much more favourable environments for global clinical development work.”
