US-based biopharmaceutical services provider Quintiles has expanded its partnership with Prodia Clinical Laboratory to facilitate rapid testing of samples from patients enrolled in clinical trials in Indonesia.
Under an agreement effected through the Jakarta-based laboratory’s sister company, Prodia – billed as the first full-service contract research organisation in Indonesia – Quintiles will have exclusive access to Prodia’s harmonised central laboratory for a two-year period.
The local testing facilities will enable Quintiles’ biopharmaceutical customers to conduct clinical research in Indonesia and help establish the potential benefits of new medicines in the Indonesian population while contributing to global development programmes, the partners noted.
Level 1 certification
Prodia has been providing a wide range of laboratory testing services in Asia for nearly 39 years. It has been working in the clinical trial sector for almost 15 of those years, leading to the formation of its sister CRO in 2007.
The laboratory recently obtained certification from Level 1 of the US-based National Glycohemoglobin Standardization Program (NGSP) for HbA1c (the haemoglobin A1c test for glycaemic control in diabetes) standardisation. It is also in the process of gaining accreditation from the College of American Pathologists.
According to Quintiles, major health issues among Indonesia’s ethnically diverse population of 240 million include both infectious and non-communicable diseases, with tobacco-related illnesses also on the increase.
“As new and improved medicines are developed for these conditions, it’s important that they are studied in populations for whom they are intended, including Indonesian patients,” commented Gunawan Prawiro Suharto, president of Prodia the CRO.
