CORNING SUBSIDIARY BESSELAAR ACQUIRING PACT
Executive Summary
CORNING SUBSIDIARY BESSELAAR ACQUIRING PACT, the Philadelphia Association for Clinical Trials, in a merger of the two drug evaluation firms announced Dec. 19. PACT is an independent contract research service specializing in post-marketing surveillance and clinical economic studies of new product costs and benefits. The two firms together boast 25 of the top 50 U.S. pharmaceutical manufacturers as clients, according to Besselaar. PACT's 60 person-workforce and Besselaar's staff of 330 will include approximately 350 researchers between them. The cash purchase price was not disclosed. Besselaar has been a subsidiary of Corning, Inc.'s Laboratory Science Division since February 1989 and has an international customer-base in the clinical evaluation of new drugs, with offices in West Germany, Switzerland, the U.K., Belgium, Sweden, France and Australia. PACT, in addition to post-marketing studies, has also performed Phase II-III studies for both domestic and international drug companies. PACT's affiliated medical institutions include the University of Pennsylvania, the Wharton School's Leonard Davis Institute for Health Economics, Penn State, and the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science. The firm was formed in 1980 as a non-profit program to market the Philadelphia area's major medical centers to international pharmaceutical firms as potential sites for clinical trials. The deal includes PACT's Japanese subsidiary, PACT Japan. In addition to conducting clinical research, the operation advises non-Japanese firms on setting up cross-licensing and other joint venture agreements with Japanese pharmaceutical firms. PACT Chairman John Schrogie, MD, will continue with the firm as president and CEO. He will also become a senior VP of Besselaar. Besselaar was founded in 1976 by its current chairman, G.H. Besselaar, MD/PhD. G.H. Besselaar was with Merck from 1971-75, prior to which he spent five years as a researcher at the National Heart Institute. Schrogie is also a Merck veteran, formerly senior director of clinical pharmacology at Merck Sharp & Dohme Research Labs.
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