BOSTON, May 27, 2014 -- PAREXEL International (NASDAQ: PRXL), a leading global biopharmaceutical services organization, today named Dr. Sy Pretorius its Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Pretorius currently serves as the Company's Corporate Vice President and Worldwide Head of Early Phase, and will continue in that capacity in addition to assuming his expanded responsibilities.
As Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Pretorius will enhance and lead innovation of clinical research methodologies, and help PAREXEL further integrate its offerings to meet growing industry demand for end-to-end drug development services. He will focus on a variety of important capabilities, including clinical trial modeling and simulations, as well as adaptive trial designs. Dr. Pretorius will also lead the Company's study optimization services by aligning its considerable scientific and therapeutic expertise to provide valuable guidance to customers in clinical study design, with a goal of increasing study predictability while reducing costs and time to market.
"Customers are increasingly seeking a full spectrum of integrated clinical research services from a single provider to make drug development more efficient," said Mark A. Goldberg, M.D., President and Chief Operating Officer, PAREXEL. "To help us meet these requirements, we have not only recently added new senior leadership to our ranks, but we have expanded the role of one of our current executives. Sy Pretorius has enjoyed a long and distinguished career at the Company, and applying his expertise more broadly will benefit customers and PAREXEL alike."
Thomas Senderovitz, M.D., Senior Vice President of Clinical Research Services at PAREXEL, added, "A unified approach to clinical drug development is central to our commitment to delivering integrated clinical services. By aligning our international expertise under Dr. Pretorius' leadership, we can provide these services in a more effective, cross-functional manner."
Dr. Pretorius is a board-certified medical doctor with master's degrees in Clinical Pharmacology and Business Administration. In nearly 18 years at PAREXEL, he has held positions of increasing responsibility, most recently as head of Early Phase services. He will continue to lead PAREXEL's global Phase I and IIa services. These services are provided via the Company's hospital-based clinical network, which spans three continents, as well as its global Proof of Concept division.
"PAREXEL supports over 1,700 clinical projects in 20 therapeutic areas, and conducts trials in more than 100 countries," said Dr. Pretorius. "I look forward to applying our scientific capabilities to meet the increasingly global and complex needs of our customers."
About PAREXEL International
PAREXEL International Corporation is a leading global biopharmaceutical services organization, providing a broad range of knowledge-based contract research, consulting, medical communications, and technology solutions and services to the worldwide pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries. Committed to providing solutions that expedite time-to-market and peak-market penetration, PAREXEL has developed significant expertise across the development and commercialization continuum, from drug development and regulatory consulting to clinical pharmacology, clinical trials management, medical education and reimbursement. Perceptive Informatics, Inc., a subsidiary of PAREXEL, provides advanced technology solutions, including medical imaging, to facilitate the clinical development process. Headquartered nearBoston, Massachusetts, PAREXEL operates in 75 locations in 50 countries around the world, and has approximately 15,335 employees. For more information about PAREXEL International visit www.PAREXEL.com.
PAREXEL, PAREXEL Informatics, Perceptive, Perceptive MyTrials, and "Your Journey. Our Mission." are trademarks or registered trademarks of PAREXEL International Corporation or its affiliates.
This release contains "forward-looking" statements regarding future results and events. For this purpose, any statements contained herein that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed forward-looking statements. Without limiting the foregoing, the words "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "intends," "appears," "estimates," "projects," "will," "would," "could," "should," "targets," and similar expressions are also intended to identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this release involve a number of risks and uncertainties. The Company's actual future results may differ significantly from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements contained in this release. Important factors that might cause such a difference include, but are not limited to, risks associated with: actual operating performance; actual expense savings and other operating improvements resulting from recent and anticipated restructurings; the loss, modification, or delay of contracts which would, among other things, adversely impact the Company's recognition of revenue included in backlog; the Company's dependence on certain industries and clients; the Company's ability to win new business, manage growth and costs, and attract and retain employees; the Company's ability to complete additional acquisitions, and to integrate newly acquired businesses including the recent acquisitions of LIQUENT, Inc. and HERON Group Ltd., Inc., or enter into new lines of business; the impact on the Company's business of government regulation of the drug, medical device and biotechnology industry; consolidation within the pharmaceutical industry and competition within the biopharmaceutical services industry; the potential for significant liability to clients and third parties; the potential adverse impact of health care reform; and the effects of exchange rate fluctuations and other international economic, political, and other risks. Such factors and others are discussed more fully in the section entitled "Risk Factors" of the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2014 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on May 2, 2014, which "Risk Factors" discussion is incorporated by reference in this press release. The Company specifically disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the future. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's estimates or views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.