Quintiles is expanding its sales reach to Brazil, opening up an arm of its commercial solutions business to tap into that country's growing pharma market.
The company estimates Brazil's biopharma market at $17.1 billion, and Quintiles will set up sales and marketing operations to help its clients cash in on the burgeoning demand. "Brazil is an increasingly important and growing commercial market, and we're eager to help our customers enter this market in a way that manages risks and increases the probability of success," Senior Vice President James Featherstone said in a statement.
Heading up the Brazilian unit is Vera Valente, a veteran of Brazilian drugmaker association Interfarma and Anvisa, the country's national health surveillance agency.
The latest expansion comes after Quintiles set up commercialization operations in Russia, the Middle East and North Africa, and Quintiles said its continued growth is designed help its customers do business in emerging markets while limiting cost and risk.
And the Durham, NC-based CRO seems poised for even further expansion: In February, Quintiles disclosed its intent to borrow $300 million to fund shareholder dividends, and analysts have tabbed the privately owned company for another big year of revenue.
- read Quintiles' release