Contract research news in brief

This week's round-up of news in the contract research arena includes a fundraising for Irish CRO Venn Life Sciences, ISO certification for Kendle's Chinese unit and new developments at Bio-Quant, GVK Bio and JSW/Affinity Life Sciences.

Irish contract research organisation Venn Life Sciences has completed a $3 million private investment round which it said would fund expansion of the company. The CRO recently opened new offices in Mexico and Australia and expanded into Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands with the acquisition of Dutch contract research firm UpToYou. Founded in 2007, Venn provides clinical trial services to companies in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device sectors.

Pre-clinical contract research organisation Bio-Quant has boosted its position in Japan via a collaboration with Japanese counterpart Cosmo Bio. From its base in Tokyo, Cosmo Bio will market Bio-Quant's services to its customer base, which includes drugmakers and academic institutions. Bassam Damaj, chief executive of Bio-Quant's parent company NexMed, said: "With the third largest concentration of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies in the world behind the US and Europe, Japan represents a key growth opportunity."

Indian CRO GVK Biosciences has opened a clinical pharmacology unit in Ahmedabad, India, adding 110 beds to its current capacity of 144 beds spread across four sites and run from GVK's service centre in Hyderabad. The new unit is situated close to a number of pharmaceutical companies and CROs and will focus on studies in healthy volunteers.

Kendle’s China-based affiliate - Beijing KendleWits Medical Consulting - has become the first global CRO to achieve ISO 9001:2008 certification and accreditation, according to a company release. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certification demonstrates compliance with quality management process standards.

Affinity Life Sciences and JSW Life Sciences have joined forces to boost their contract research and manufacturing (CRM) reach on either side of the Atlantic. Austria-based JSW said the deal would help it expand into the US and add biomarker assay development, GMP manufacturing and various biologic development services. Meanwhile, New Hampshire, US-based Affinity said it would gain access to a range of in vitro and in vivo services, including transgenic animal studies, and a stronger lead into the European market.