CRO Europital opens new UK site in response to urgent demand

The company will target working with small and medium biotechs who require a science-driven, rather than a volume-driven partner.

Europital – a global provider of medical management services for clinical research and drug development – is opening a UK site to further expand its services to the UK biotech industry. The company is already working with a number of UK partners and is forecasting compound growth nearly 30% of the next 3 years.

The Europital site will expand its operational team over the next few months and will target working with small and medium biotechs to design and execute projects, particularly for First in Man, Phase I and Phase II clinical studies.

The clinical research organization (CRO), which already partners with several biotechs in the UK, says it has seen a "clear gap in the market" for small innovators looking for a science focussed CRO that can provide detailed knowledge and therapeutic experience.

Gaining access to senior medical CRO expertise can be extremely challenging for the smaller innovators. The company says they can provide a medical department with real-world trial experience to implement study design and protocols.

Europital is planning to quickly expand its offering and will focus on providing expertise to partners in complex oncology indications, inflammatory diseases, immunology and infectious diseases studies.

The UK site opening will be used to leverage the company’s Phase III experience with clinical studies directly conducted at UK investigative sites.

Dr Mohamed El Malt, CEO and Chief Medical Officer of Europital said that much of the UK's cutting-edge innovation lies with smaller companies and spin outs and it is these organizations that really need the help of a science-driven CRO rather than that of a volume-driven large CRO that "usually won’t give the study the attention it needs".

"You often hear ‘follow the molecule’ in CRO circles. What we are doing is following the innovator and looking at where we can best help partners advanced targets more quickly through clinical trials," said Dr El Malt.

The company says that the shortage of senior experience in the market - primarily due to the number of trials currently underway - has resulted in almost 100% repreat business.

This development also opens up direct access to UK investigational sites for Europital's existing European and North American partners with Phase IIIstudies.