CRO

Parexel partners with Taiwan hospital for drug development

Parexel International ($PRXL) is adding another academic partner to its list of overseas collaborators, inking a deal with the National Taiwan University Hospital to provide drug development services in the country.

The pairing follows Parexel's similar agreement with the Korea Drug Development Fund and a recent partnership with Salem State University to create a certificate program in clinical trial management at the school. This time, Parexel is looking to leverage the hospital's local reputation as a clinical trial site to serve local and global biopharmas, Senior Vice President Joe Avellone said.

"Partnering with National Taiwan University Hospital further enhances our ability to meet the increasing demand from our clients to provide a full scope of Phase I-IV clinical trials in a rapidly growing market," Avellone said in a statement.

The Tapei City hospital has about 4,000 employees, and Parexel said it's a center of excellence the expertise of which will be enticing to drugmakers looking to tap the Asia-Pacific region.

Parexel is already established in Taiwan, having worked with Eli Lilly ($LLY) there, and it's hardly the first CRO to see promise in the country. The area has become an attractive site for drug development thanks to industry tax incentives and a streamlined drug-approval process, and Taiwan is now the fourth most popular Asian target for pharma outsourcing, after China, India and South Korea, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers survey.

- read the announcement

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