US-based Quintiles Transnational Corporation, a pharmaceutical services provider, has entered into a partnership with Apollo Hospitals group to open a Phase I clinical trial unit in Hyderabad. The unit will allow customers additional options to complete integrated Phase I programmes across multiple geographies at this stage in medical research.
“Phase I development in both healthy volunteers and patients is at the forefront of our quest for new and better medicines. Phase I can help expedite the development process and ensure that only those compounds with most promise are further evaluated. We are expanding our global capacity in the light of increased customer demand for these services,” Eddie Caffrey, senior vice-president, Quintiles Global Phase I, stated in a press release here on Wednesday
Scheduled to open in the first quarter of 2010, the unit will evaluate compounds developed both in India and in other countries. Initially, it will have around 50 beds, with plans to expand this number to 100 to meet predicted growth in demand. Hyderabad will be the fifth Quintiles Phase I facility, joining units in London, Kansas, and Lulea and Uppsala in Sweden.
Hyderabad is the fourth Quintiles location in India. The company has offices in Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Bangalore offering clinical research, central laboratory, data management and ECG services.
“We are excited to be working with Quintiles on the development of this new unit," Prathap C Reddy, chairman of Apollo Hospitals, said.
Senior managers from Quintiles’ Phase I unit at Guys Hospital, London, will set up operations in Hyderabad and mentor the management team here. Quintiles’ London personnel will also help train staff for the India unit, which will be located on Apollo’s Hyderabad hospital campus.