Two globally scaled contract research organisations, Chiltern International and ICON, have extended their reach in Europe and the Asia Pacific region respectively with new offices in the Netherlands and China.
UK-based Chiltern has appointed Angela Pasma as country manager for the Netherlands, heading up a new office in Leiden. “Having already cultivated positive relationships with clients and colleagues in the region, we look forward to expanding our operations here to further serve our clients’ needs,” Pasma said.
According to Maurizio Passanisi, Chiltern’s director for the Benelux region, the Netherlands continues to be “an excellent place for clinical research, with experienced investigators as well as highly regarded international key opinion leaders, all adhering to the highest of medical standards”.
Shanghai office
ICON, which operates out of Dublin, Ireland, has consolidated a more than 10-year presence in the Asia-Pacific region by opening a new office in Shanghai, China and relocating its Beijing operations to larger premises.
The company also announced the appointment of Dr Malcolm Burgess as executive vice president, Asia-Pacific and of Paula Mumby as vice president, operations, Asia-Pacific for ICON’s resourcing business unit, DOCS.
Burgess joined ICON in 2002 and has held a variety of high-level positions within the company, including chief operating officer, US operations from 2006 to 2009. Mumby was previously vice president, Asia Pacific and Japan, for i3 Pharma Resourcing, as well as holding a clinical development role at CSL.
China is currently the third largest pharmaceutical market in the world “and will soon become the second largest, as more and more pharmaceutical companies move their research to this region”, noted Peter Gray, chief executive officer of ICON.
“We are growing our presence in this important market, as well as the broader Asia-Pacific region, and we have a highly experienced leadership team in place to support our plans for further growth,” he said.
ICON currently employs more than 900 staff in the Asia Pacific area. The Shanghai office follows the company’s announcement in June 2010 that it was opening a new central laboratory facility in Tianjin, China with local contract research organisation Fountain Medical Development Ltd.
