Quintiles, a fully integrated biopharmaceutical services company offering clinical, commercial, consulting and capital solutions worldwide, today announced a strategic alliance agreement with the University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) as part of its unique Prime Site program – an initiative focused on accelerating the development of new and more effective medicines. The UMMC is the first Prime Site in Asia for Quintiles, adding to its existing four other sites located in the United States, Europe and Africa.
“Prime Sites are large clinical institutions that collaborate with Quintiles to enhance their infrastructure for conducting clinical trials,” explained Christopher CabellM.D. “The University Malaya Medical Centre is an ideal partner for us because of its experience in conducting clinical research, its access to substantial patient populations and its clinical expertise across multiple therapeutic areas. Through this new alliance, Quintiles will be able to significantly improve its reach to patients and investigators who are critical to facilitating the increasingly complex therapies under development.”
Professor Dato’ Ikram Shah bin Ismail, Director of the University Malaya Medical Centre said, “We take great pride in being recognized as a remarkable institution for our long-term commitment and experience in conducting safe and international-caliber clinical research, our clinical expertise across multiple therapeutic areas, and our capability to access a large pool of patients. We believe that this partnership with Quintiles will serve as an impetus for UMMC to achieve greater efficiencies in conducting clinical trials. By enhancing the efficacy, productivity and quality of clinical research at UMMC, we will ultimately propel the advancement of medical practice in improving human health.”
From a clinical research standpoint, Asia has long held special promise for the global biopharmaceutical industry’s future as companies work to minimize time and cost to market, as well as capitalize on the innovation occurring throughout the region. As an industry and regional pioneer, Quintiles is dedicated to helping its customers navigate risks and seize opportunities in the New Health landscape. This new alliance with UMMC is another example of that dedication and a key step toward enabling the Asia-Pacific region to deliver on its potential in the clinical drug development industry.
Anand Tharmaratnam, M.D., Senior Vice President and Head of Clinical Development for Quintiles Asia-Pacific said, “Malaysia is an increasingly important player in Asia-Pacific clinical drug development and the commitment of its government, academic and private industry leaders to promoting leading-edge clinical research in the country is undeniable. This, coupled with the highly skilled clinical workforce, strong clinical research infrastructure and large potential patient populations makes Malaysia and UMMC a quality fit as our first Prime Site in Asia. With the enthusiasm and vision for this model that our UMMC partner has shown, we are confident that this will serve as a strong foundation for our Prime Site program in Asia.”
The Prime Site program is already yielding impressive results in its established locations at Queen Mary’s College in London, UK, the Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C., USA, The University of Pretoria, South Africa, and the Southern California Permanente Medical Group, USA. Key to the success of the program so far is Quintiles’ efforts to harmonize operational processes, drive efficiencies in start-up and build better relationships with site staff, which, in turn, supports patient recruitment.
A true pioneer in the Asia-Pacific clinical research industry, Quintiles opened its first office in the region in 1993. Since that time, the company has grown to more than 20 offices in 14 countries throughout the region with its regional headquarters in Singapore.
During that same timeframe, Quintiles has conducted in excess of 1,300 studies involving greater than 9,000 sites and more than 185,000 patients in the region. Through these efforts and experience, Quintiles is able to provide its customers with unmatched expertise and experience across a wide range of therapeutic areas, including cardiovascular disease, oncology, neurology, infectious disease among many others.
