PPD Continues High-speed Expansion In Asia

U.S.-based CRO makes its second acquisition this quarter of a Chinese CRO.

BEIJING - As part of a rapid-fire expansion across Asia, the U.S.-headquartered PPD has outlined plans to purchase and merge with the Beijing-based contract research organization BioDuro.

This is PPD's second acquisition of a CRO operating inside China in a few weeks, and lays the groundwork for China to become the anchor of PPD's burgeoning presence in Asia, according to CEO David Grange.

The head of PPD, which has its headquarters in Wilmington, North Carolina, along with operations across six continents, said in an interview that the planned alliance with BioDuro "increases not only our capacity, but also the types of services offered."

BioDuro, which operates an advanced laboratory in Beijing's embryonic life sciences park on the Northern outskirts of the Chinese capital, offers services across such areas as medicinal chemistry, biology, pharmacology, drug metabolism, pharmacokinetics and biosafety.

BioDuro already provides outsourcing services, including the synthesis of compounds and optimization of lead candidates, for most of the world's pharmaceutical giants, according to executives at PPD.

Offering Full Gamut Of R&D Lifecycle Services

Following BioDuro's planned merger with PPD, the combined company will offer a wide array of drug research and development services, including help in conducting early-stage through Phase IV trials.

Grange recently jetted into Beijing to finalize PPD's acquisition of Excel PharmaStudies, which provides drug clinical trial services, along with data management, biostatistics, regulatory and quality assurance expertise (Also see "Excel PharmaStudies Chairman Mark Engel On China’s Rapidly Expanding Clinical Trials: An Interview With PharmAsia News (Part 1 of 2)" - Scrip, 30 Jun, 2008.).

When the twin acquisitions are completed, PPD's scientific workforce in China will number nearly 1,000 people, making it one of the largest contract research organizations in the world's most populous country.

WuXi PharmaTech remains the market leader in terms of providing CRO services across China, but many analysts predict that the size of the market will grow quickly as the West's top pharmaceutical players move more research to China; that trend is expected to gain momentum as the global financial crisis provides a new impetus to utilize lower-cost Chinese R&D (Also see "Global Financial Crisis Could Speed Up Sending Pharma Research To China" - Scrip, 20 Oct, 2008.).

CEO Grange said that PPD is moving to increase its presence across China and Asia because many of its major clients in the West are already stepping up operations in the East.

To help keep pace with this trend, Grange said, "We have a partnership with Peking Union Biomedical on a central lab that opened in the fourth quarter of 2008."

"We just opened a central lab in Singapore," he added.

Simon Britton, PPD's vice president for clinical development in the Asia Pacific region, added during an interview in Beijing: "PPD opened an office in Tokyo this year as part of our steady growth in Asia."

In China, CEO Grange said, the signs of the country's emergence as a major pharmaceutical market and research hub are everywhere: "Novartis just made a billion-dollar commitment to research in China, while Merck and GSK are all committing a lot of money here."

China's rise as a global economic power, the country's burgeoning middle class, and the adoption of Western lifestyles are all driving the growth of the pharmaceutical market, he explained.

The top international pharmaceutical players, he added, will increasingly focus on "developing molecules specifically for the Chinese population."

Grange indicated that these developments will all drive up demand for global quality services in terms of drug discovery and for the leading contract research organizations with operations in China.

-Daniel Poppy ([email protected]) and Kevin Holden ([email protected])

[Editor's note: This article appears courtesy of PharmAsiaNews.com, F-D-C Reports' new site for Asian biotech and pharmaceutical news. Register for a 30-day risk free trial.]