Thursday, October 4, 2007

Veeda to buy two cancer research units

Veeda Clinical Research, one among the top-three clinical research organisations (CRO) in India, will soon acquire two CROs in North America and Central Europe.

The acquisition is expected to enable the company specialise in clinical trials for the development of cancer drugs and emerge as a global player.

Veeda, which acquired three CROs in Europe within two years, is in advanced stages of negotiations. Both the companies are specialised in cancer clinical trials and have a track record of over 8-10 years. “We have signed a term sheet agreement with one and are negotiating with another. Each of these acquistions would range from $5-10 million. Cancer trials constitute about 40 per cent of the global clinical trials happening at present and we plan to position ourselves specialised in this field,” said Apurva Shah, managing director, Veeda.

CROs help pharmaceutical companies in conducting clinical trials in humans from phases I to III during the development cycle of a drug, which spans 10-15 years. In India, the clinical trials industry bloomed only in the last few years. Currently, there are about 230 CROs.

Ahmedabad-based Veeda, the first Indian CRO to make a footprint outside India, made its first acquisition two years ago by acquiring Phase-I Clinical Trial Unit, a well-established CRO in Plymouth, England. In December 2006, it acquired Dice, a CRO with strength in data management and based in Brussels, Belgium. In May this year, Veeda took over Phase-1 (drugs tested on human beings for the first time) clinical research unit in Gorlitz, Germany.

(Source: Business Standard)

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