Author: Peter Mansell

The problems faced by small biopharmaceutical companies in raising funds for clinical trials in a tightening economic climate have taken their toll on US-based contract research organisation (CRO) Parexel.

US-based contract research organisation (CRO) PPD has boosted its expertise in post-approval drug safety through a strategic alliance with World Health Information Science Consultants (WHISCON).

The US-based Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research has awarded grants totalling around US$2.9 million for two clinical trials that will examine the potential of drugs already well established in other therapeutic areas to tackle the symptoms and causes of Parkinson’s disease.

Biotechnology companies in the UK “are on the verge of extinction” and one of the main reasons is “the crippling self-inflicted extra costs” of clinical trials, which are driving industry abroad, claim more than 100 academics in a letter to The Times newspaper.

France is holding its own internationally as a location for later-phase clinical trials. Within Europe, though, the country has been losing ground, essentially to the benefit of the UK and the countries of Eastern Europe, according to the latest biennial analysis by the French pharmaceutical industry association Leem (Les enterprises du medicament).