Eurofins Medinet Shanghai Central Laboratory ready for operation
April 10, 2008
In its ongoing commitment to adapt to emerging trends in the pharmaceutical industry, Eurofins Medinet has expanded its network in Asia and established a new dedicated Central Laboratory in Suzhou, Shanghai, China, following the successful start of its operations of another Central Laboratory in Singapore in early 2007. As more and more pharmaceutical companies choose to conduct clinical trials in China, Eurofins Medinet represents one of the very few international companies to have built a specialist central laboratory facility to serve its customers there. This laboratory makes Eurofins Medinet one of the top central laboratory operators in the world, with its network of 6 wholly-owned laboratories across North America, Asia and Europe. The advantages for its customers include the availability of a huge patient pool with a large number of treatment-naïve patients and lower trial costs in comparison to USA and Europe. In addition, China is expected to become the world’s 5th largest local market by 2010 and the 3rd largest market by 2020.
The facility will operate to the same procedures and quality standards as already established and proven in the other Eurofins Medinet-owned facilities. It is planned that the facility will achieve NGSP Level 1 accreditation by June 2008 and CAP accreditation in 2009. The Eurofins Medinet local laboratory not only offers a full range of safety parameters but extends its offering by adding a diversity of specialised testing like HPLC and ELISA. Eurofins Medinet Shanghai will support over 80 investigator sites in 8 cities from multiple studies throughout 2008.
The newly built facility is in response to the growth of clinical trials being conducted in China, thereby meeting the special (regulatory) requirements the industry is facing. Due to Chinese export regulations it is pivotal to perform central laboratory testing within Chinese territory.
Suzhou is home to many high-tech and pharmaceutical enterprises. The facility’s location gives it easy access to the high quality road, rail and air transportation infrastructure in the area, which enables much closer control over transportation and the maintenance of specimen integrity. This facility in the Shanghai area extends the current Eurofins Medinet network of central laboratories with wholly-owned facilities in the USA, Netherlands, France, Singapore and now in China.
“We are excited that we are now able to help our customers to conduct clinical trials in China” says Robert Willis, Vice President International Laboratory Development at Eurofins Medinet. “With this laboratory complementing our Eurofins Medinet facility in Singapore in 2007, we aspire to offer the most appropriate and highest quality central laboratory services in the Asia-Pacific region.”
For further information please visit www.eurofinsmedinet.com or www.eurofins.com or contact:
| Investor Relations | Sandra Hageman |
| Phone: +32-2-769 7383 | Bergschot 71 |
| E-mail: ir@eurofins.com | 4817 PA Breda |
| The Netherlands | |
| Phone: +32-2-769 7383 | |
| sandra.hageman@eurofinsmedinet.com |