PAREXEL International Corporation, a global biopharmaceutical services provider, today announced that the company has opened offices in Chengdu and Guangzhou, China to support a growing requirement for a broad range of clinical development and regulatory consulting capabilities in the country and throughout the Asia/Pacific region. These locations further expand PAREXEL’s presence in China, which includes offices in Beijing and Shanghai as well as Kowloon, Hong Kong. PAREXEL now has 17 offices throughout important biopharmaceutical centers in the Asia/Pacific region, which in addition to China also includes a strong presence in Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand.

“China, which is one of the fastest growing pharmaceutical markets in the world, is forecasted to become the fifth largest market this year, and reach approximately $47 billion in size by 2013,” said Josef von Rickenbach, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of PAREXEL International. “Foreseeing China’s potential for clients, PAREXEL was a pioneer in establishing a firm foundation for clinical development in the country. Further expansion of expert resources in Asia is designed to meet client demand for greater opportunities to include China in their global drug development strategies and obtain China market registration.” According to Mr. von Rickenbach, “We believe that China is attractive for a wide range of clinical development activities due to its large patient population, cost effective environment, and expanding medical infrastructure.

A high prevalence of certain cancers, diabetes and other diseases in China can benefit from more extensive clinical research. We are working with clients to reduce their development costs, accelerate patient recruitment, and decrease time to market by incorporating China in global development planning, thereby bringing important new safe and effective treatments to patients in China and around the world sooner.”