CRO

Clinical Network Services (CNS) acquires New Zealand partner BELTAS' business assets

BRISBANE, Australia--Clinical Network Services (CNS), an Australian based CRO offering integrated development services in the planning, implementation and delivery of Phase 1 and 2 trials, today announced that it has acquired the business assets of its erstwhile New Zealand partner BELTAS, a CRO based in Auckland. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The acquisition of BELTAS' business officially completed at the end of 2012 with BELTAS contracts and all clinical staff transferring to CNS. BELTAS will continue to provide GCP training in New Zealand.

Russell Neal, Managing Director of CNS commented: "2012 has been a tremendous year for CNS and has seen us grow significantly over the last 12 months, expand our regional CRA base so we can better service local sites in Perth and Melbourne as well as further bed down our BioDesk services. This acquisition continues our goal of widening our capabilities across Australia and New Zealand and by bringing together these two highly skilled clinical teams with years of collective experience we are able to offer our clients a truly regional solution.

At the same time, CNS announced that its BioDesk service launched a year ago at the Genesis conference in London, had been a huge success and already gaining a very positive international reputation. BioDesk is an intelligent product development planning and regulatory affairs service designed for biotech companies planning wishing to enter the clinic faster by virtue of creating and managing a pre-clinical programme that encompasses a globalised regulatory perspective whilst leveraging unique regional advantages.

Mark Reid, Associate Director, BioDesk & Regulatory Affairs, added: "2012 has been a remarkable year with BioDesk performing well beyond our expectations. There is an obvious need for biotechnology companies to obtain expert support in making the transition from 'bench' to the clinic and BioDesk aims to provide this capability – particularly for companies looking to trial their products in Australia or New Zealand."

Mark Reid, Associate Director, BioDesk & Regulatory Affairs and Karen West, Director of Business Development of CNS, will be attending the Biotech Showcase 2013 in San Francisco, CA, USA on 7th to 10th January 2013.

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About Clinical Network Services

Clinical Network Services (CNS) Pty Ltd is an Australian and New Zealand CRO offering integrated development services to virtual, small and medium sized Biotech companies in the planning, implementation and delivery of Phase 1 and 2 trials, and beyond. CNS offers a unique service where it integrates BioDesk, an intelligent product development planning and regulatory affairs service, with our committed, highly experienced regional clinical operations team. Our "Regional Advantage" is driven by our extremely pragmatic regulatory environment that makes it possible for our clients to enter the clinic quickly, without the need for prior approval from another regulatory agency. Specifically, BioDesk works closely with our clients to design, implement and manage manufacturing and preclinical plans that are always mindful of commercial timelines and budgets, allowing swifter go/no go decisions for our clients and their investors. With operations across Australia and New Zealand, CNS makes use of its close relationships with key opinion leaders, world leading clinical facilities, and globally respected Phase I units across a wide variety of therapeutic indications. Our service offerings include: product development and regulatory affairs planning and development, clinical planning and study start up, monitoring, project management, data management/biostatistics, medical consultancy/monitoring, medical writing, bioanalytical services and safety reporting.