Quintiles and the Queen

The company’s prime site program goes live at Queen Mary University, aims to accelerate clinical research

Lloyd Dunlap
Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
5:00
BRACKNELL, U.K.
Quintiles recently announcedthat it has reached a significant milestone in its prime site program with theofficial opening of a clinical research facility within Queen Mary, Universityof London.
 
Queen Mary was Quintiles' first prime site—thereare now eight others—with the collaboration dating back to 2007. Prime sitesare large clinical institutions that collaborate with Quintiles to driveproductivity and excellence in clinical research. Quintiles provides dedicatedresources to the clinical research facility to maximize patient recruitment andaccelerate outcomes.
 
Since 2008, the site has consistently delivereda significant proportion of the patients enrolled in the United Kingdom, andenrollment numbers are ahead of other sites around the globe, states LindyJones, Quintiles' global head of integrated site services. To date, the sitehas recruited more than 10 percent of U.K. patients enrolled in Quintilesstudies, she notes. Investigators at Queen Mary work on at least 20 studies atany one time, across multiple therapeutic areas, with best-in-class start-uptimelines.
 
Including collaborative work done before QueenMary was officially designated a prime site by Quintiles, the two groups havebeen working together for approximately five years.
 
"We can now demonstrate measurable results,"says Jones. "We tend to start discussions at an earlier stage and engagemedical staff with a more strategic approach, analyzing needs we foresee forstudies coming through the Quintiles pipeline."
 
In addition to providing dedicated resources,Quintiles has a prime site manager embedded at Queen Mary, and the companysupports research within the unit beyond its own projects. The site managerprovides a bridge between Quintiles and Queen Mary that contributes to an openand transparent relationship, Jones says.
 
"In new health, there is significant pressure tospeed the drug development process in order to develop treatments that enablepeople to live healthier lives," says Jones.
 
Given the increasing complexity of new drugtherapies, it is correspondingly more difficult to enroll participants inclinical studies. Quintiles' global reach includes emerging regions such asIndia, Africa and the Middle East.
 
"But developed markets must also staycompetitive as destination regions," she notes.
 
Currently, Quintiles performs more clinicalresearch than any other organization.
 
"We are proud to be working with the team atQueen Mary to further enhance our ability to recruit patients and investigatorswho are critical to an efficient and effective drug development process," Jonesadds.
  Mark Caulfield, director of the William HarveyResearch Institute and the NIHR Cardiovascular Biomedical Research Unit atQueen Mary, says, "we are delighted to be working with Quintiles who, likeourselves, have the patient at the heart of everything they do. This centerwill enhance collaboration between medical and clinical research professionalsand academics across a range of protocols and therapeutic areas. Quintiles wasone of six donors to the center, which aims to provide a research pipelinewhereby the innovation of new therapeutics can be converted from laboratory topatient in one unique environment."
 
This investment by Quintiles follows the openingof an expanded Phase I clinical research facility in Guy's Hospital Tower in2010, and a central laboratory and office facility in Edinburgh in 2009. 

Quintiles claims to be the only fully integratedbiopharmaceutical services company offering clinical, commercial, consultingand capital solutions worldwide. According to company figures, 80 percent ofclinical trials fail to meet their initial enrollment quotas on time, riskinglosses of $600,000 to more than $8 million in revenue each day a drug isdelayed. Quintiles' objective is to overcome this challenge by leveraging itsprime site relationships and proprietary outreach tools to enroll patients moreefficiently.


Lloyd Dunlap

Subscribe to Newsletter
Subscribe to our eNewsletters

Stay connected with all of the latest from Drug Discovery News.

March 2024 Issue Front Cover

Latest Issue  

• Volume 20 • Issue 2 • March 2024

March 2024

March 2024 Issue