Immtech & BCMU to form Chinese CRO

July 7, 2008 - PRLog -- Immtech Pharmaceuticals (New York City) and Beijing Capital Medical University have signed a memorandum of understanding to form a joint venture to provide contract research services in China.  

Due to be established later this year, the joint venture will offer services ranging from research planning and risk assessment to preclinical and clinical study design.  It will focus initially on early-stage drug discovery, but will also support later-stage clinical development, including co-ordination with research sites, data management, monitoring and reporting.  The partners intend to expand into providing consultancy services on Chinese clinical research guidelines and regulatory review procedures.

Immtech specialises in developing drugs to treat infectious diseases.  The company has a library of compounds targeting hepatitis C, drug-resistant gram-positive bacteria, fungal infections and other diseases.  “Immtech brings extensive experience in clinical development programmes conducted at multiple sites around the world to our joint venture with BCMU,” said chairman and CEO Eric L Sorkin.

Founded in 1960, BCMU is among the top academic medical institutions in China, and one of the key universities in Beijing.  It consists of 10 schools, 14 affiliated hospitals and one teaching institution.  The university and affiliated hospitals have a staff of 20,000, including six members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences or Engineering, 1,000 professors and 2,000 associate professors.  The university has 9,000 enrolled students.

“As the world’s most rapidly expanding market for healthcare products, China is poised for explosive growth in research in the years ahead, especially related to early-stage drug discovery.  BCMU is a well established research centre with drug discovery experience, and significant capital and resources,” said Mr Guo, director of BCMU’s resource management centre. Article submitted by www.jobs4dd.com, a specialist online recruitment service for the clinical trial and drug development sectors. Latest news and jobs in the industry are listed on a daily basis.