US-based biopharmaceutical services company Quintiles continues to pursue an aggressive growth strategy in China, this time announcing a US$14 million investment in regional headquarters and a significant expansion of its local laboratory-testing capabilities through a joint venture with the Shanghai Clinical Research Centre (SCRC).

The 43,000 sq ft regional headquarters in Shanghai will serve China and nearby Asian countries. Designed to achieve LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold accreditation, the office in Feng Lin Science Park is expected to house more than 450 Quintiles employees over the next five years.

Quintiles is also engaging SCRC under a joint-venture agreement to provide lab testing services to local customers. It described its partner as a leading full-service clinical research centre in China, set up under a collaborative framework by the Ministry of Science and Technology and Shanghai Municipality in 2008.

SCRC operates to global standards as a third-party, full-service assessment and resources platform, linking pharmaceutical companies and clinical hospitals, Quintiles noted.

Kun Tuo

The collaboration follows the launch last December of Kun Tuo, Quintiles’ local contract research organisation, which aims to help both local and global biopharmaceutical companies register their medicines successfully in China.

Coming hard on the heels of that initiative was the announcement last January that Quintiles had opened a business process outsourcing (BPO) and project management centre of excellence in Dalian, China.   

Quintiles started its Chinese operations in 1997. Today it has offices in Beijing, Dalian, Hong Kong and Shanghai, with employees and capabilities to serve all major population centres and study sites across the country, the company says.

“With its burgeoning economy and growing healthcare needs for its 1.3 billion citizens, China exemplifies the opportunities and challenges of the New Health,” commented Quintiles executive chairman Dennis Gillings.

“By broadening our investment and infrastructure here, Quintiles is ready to partner with our biopharma customers as they look to realise China’s potential.”