Novotech’s expansion to USA reaps multimillion
April 9, 2006 by admin
Filed under Company News, Company News 2006
April 9, 2006 – Chigago, Il — Novotech, the largest Australian owned contract research organization (CRO) announced today at BIO 2006 in Chicago Il., an AUD4 million deal with US biotech firm SkyePharma (LSE: SKP; Nasdaq: SKYE) to conduct a key trial required for the US FDA.
This is the first major deal for Novotech’s new US operations which was established to provide US and Australian biotech and pharma companies with an alternative to the large global CROs, by offering high-quality yet cost-effective clinical trials in both the US and Australia.
The SkyePharma deal, the first of its kind for an Australian CRO, involves Novotech managing a clinical research project involving sites in both the US and Australia.
Novotech CEO Alek Safarian said the two year clinical trial involving one of SkyePharma’s key products would be conducted using both US and Australian research sites.
“This is the type of deal we had in mind when we opened operations in the US late last year. There is real demand for a CRO like Novotech to offer trials across the two countries, providing the benefits of Australia’s highly regarded cost-effective clinical trial capabilities, and at the same time take advantage of access to the much larger US market for rapid patient enrolment,” said Safarian.
“This is about Novotech people on the ground in the US and Australia winning major deals direct from leading US biotechs.”
Given the early success of the US subsidiary, Safarian confirmed the company is on track to achieve its goal of 50% revenue contribution by its US operation in 3 years’ time.
“Novotech is now uniquely positioned to offer clinical research services to both US and Australian firms on the ground, a service that has to date only been available via large globalCROs at higher overhead costs”
Novotech, which was highlighted in the prestigious “25 CROs to watch” list by premier marketintelligence firm Life Science Insights (LSI), part of the IDC group, has worked with more than35 U.S.-based and European pharmaceutical and biotech companies over the past 3 years.
As the leading Australian owned CRO, the company continues to innovate, both in its growth strategy as a local player in the global industry, as well as in the provision of its services through the development of high tech proprietary solutions for efficient management of clinical research projects.
About Novotech
Headquartered in Sydney, Novotech is focused on the Australian and New Zealand markets but has worldwide reach through the company’s subsidiary in the United Kingdom and its US operations.
As the largest independent CRO in Australia, Novotech offers a level of flexibility and local knowledge that is unmatched among other contract research organizations in the region.
Novotech’s US operations make it uniquely positioned to offer trials across the two countries, providing the benefits of Australia’s highly regarded cost-effective clinical trial capabilities, and at
the same time take advantage of access to the much larger US market for rapid patient enrolment – a service that has to date only been available via large global CROs at higher overhead costs.
The Australian Clinical Trials Advantage
Increasingly, US companies are turning to Australia to expedite the pace, and reduce the cost, of clinical trials, while maintaining the high standard of research that US authorities demand. Australia has been ranked the number one location to conduct pharmaceutical clinical trials in an international benchmarking study undertaken by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). The EIU study ranked Australia against six countries – US, UK, Germany, Japan, Singapore and India. Other studies have found that clinical research costs may be as much as 30 percent lower in Australia than in the United States and Europe. In addition, Australian regulatory procedures often enable a trial to begin in as little as 2-3 months from the initiation of the approval process. This compares favorably to usual timelines in major Western countries.
