Cerba Research would like to provide you with information related to our operational and courier services during the end of 2023.

Cerba Research Closure Days

Our labs and partner labs are closed on the days noted in the attached table. Please take your shipment transit time into consideration to ensure the sample(s) arrive the day before a Closure Day. 

Local Public Holidays Recommendations/Information

• Please do not ship samples on the day(s) before local public holidays or on local public holidays. If agreed otherwise for your trial, please confirm arrangements in advance with your courier.
• Please do not organize frozen shipments during the end of year holidays (from 20-December 2023 till and including 01-January 2024) unless otherwise agreed upon. Cerba Research will not organize frozen batch shipments during this period. Please store frozen samples at the site until 02-January 2024.
• Samples arriving at the laboratory within 48 hours or less before closing days may experience delays of reporting and may be reported when laboratory will resume activity after the closing days.
• For Barc South Africa: Please notify the Barc South Africa team before sending any samples to ensure the shipment can be tracked as there can be delays in customs within Africa during the holiday period.
• For Cerba Research Australia: Due to the prolonged weekends, please avoid shipping between 22-December 2023 and 02-January 2024. Turnaround time for shipments for sites in Australia and New Zealand is 24hr, for sites located in Asia and shipping to Cerba Research Australia take 48hr-72hr into consideration.
• For Russia and Ukraine: Please try to avoid scheduling patients from 20-December 2023 until 10-January 2024 as these countries have an extended holiday period. If you need to schedule patient visits during this period, please contact Cerba Research to clarify if any solutions can be determined.

Courier Service Schedule / Customs

As all couriers (standard as well as premium) may have restrictions, please contact them well in advance to check the following:

• The possible shipping days and possible earlier last calling / pick-up times.
• Couriers will typically not pick-up or deliver on public holidays.
• Take your sample transit time into consideration; 24, 48 and 72 hours – to ensure samples arrive the day before a Closure Day. Extra transit time can be needed during the End of Year period.
• Customs closing times (only applicable if a pro forma invoice is required).

Although courier services can be restricted, Cerba Research will be providing continuous service during the holiday period (except on the closure days), so please contact us via the study specific email address (preferred) or via the general contact details if you need assistance:

• Cerba Research Europe: [email protected]
• Cerba Research USA: [email protected]
• Cerba Research APAC: [email protected]
• BARC South Africa: [email protected]; [email protected]  
• CerbACT Taiwan: [email protected]

Thank you for your support and collaboration with Cerba Research. We wish you a safe and peaceful holiday season and new       year.      

Yours sincerely

Jenny De Pessemier

Vice President Global Project Management

• The acquisition points up the Group’s ambition to provide its clinical research customers with best-in-class scientific input and critical flexibility for their drug development programs.
• It will reinforce Pharmacokinetic / Pharmacodynamic (PKPD) and Immunogenicity testing expertise to support the pharma industry.
• CIRION’s CAP/CLIA certifications and GLP certified facilities meeting regulatory standards in the North American market will sustain the Group’s fast growth on this market.

Issy Les Moulineaux, France and Laval, Canada, September 7, 2023 – Cerba HealthCare, a leading global player in medical diagnosis, today announced it has acquired CIRION BIOPHARMA RESEARCH INC (CIRION), a Canadian-controlled private company highly recognized for its integrated bioanalytical and global central laboratory services.

CIRION, a leading contract research organization has been operating global clinical trials over 30 years. Besides its bioanalytical capabilities highly specialized in Biosimilars/Biologics development including PKPD and Immunogenicity testing, it offers central lab full solutions with fast start-up capabilities for managing international multi-center clinical studies and supports specimen management for complex development projects. The company has a workforce of over 80 employees comprised of PhD holders, medical specialists and a network of renowned university researchers.

Cerba HealthCare appreciates CIRION’s reputation for its deep expertise with Large Molecules development and, high-quality services being fully GLP compliant, with an impressive client base including some of the world’s top 10 global pharmaceutical companies. Being CAP (College of American Pathologists) and CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments) accredited assures that their lab is scientifically endorsed to regulatory standards in the North American market. 

CIRION offers a full range of services, from the development of specialized assays to laboratory testing required for clinical studies, allowing the company to meet the complex needs of their reputable clients. Furthermore, the company provides R&D services from preclinical drug discovery to phase IV clinical stage drug development.

Within Cerba HealthCare’s comprehensive Group offering, and ranking under the Cerba Research brand, clinical laboratory and diagnostic solutions for clinical and IVD trials have grown considerably over the past years, demonstrating a strong track record in patient recruitment and clinical trial sample testing, as well as in white-glove logistics solutions for immuno-oncology, anti-infectives, cell & gene therapies and metabolic disorders. Over the years, Cerba Research has evolved to become the precision medicine partner to CROs, the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry, and non-profit organizations with growing needs for global complex clinical research programs.

Dr. Sylvain Desrochers and Dr. Lise Dallaire, founders of CIRION added: “We are very proud of what CIRION has accomplished over the past 30 years, and yet, it was time to find a new foundation to bring our scientific contribution to the next level. It is an honor to join the Cerba HealthCare galaxy though their world class clinical research provider: with Cerba Research, we found the perfect breeding ground where our combined expertise and capabilities will help our teams meet the ever-changing scientific, logistical and analytical challenges of clinical studies. This is truly galvanizing stage for our people to see their purpose pursued at a greater scale and we will remain closely associated to the business operations of this new entity. The CIRION scientists and experts are very excited to join Cerba Research in their continuous quest to provide the best possible solutions to serve and improve the clinical trials of our life science customers.”

About Cerba Healthcare

Cerba HealthCare, a leading global player in medical diagnosis, aims to support the evolution of health systems towards more prevention. It draws on more than 50 years of expertise in clinical pathology to better assess the risk of diseases development, detect and diagnose diseases earlier, and optimize the effectiveness of personalized medicine. Every day, on 5 continents, the Group’s 15 000 employees sustain the transformation of medicine, driven by one deep conviction: to advance diagnosis is to advance health.

Cerba HealthCare, enlightening health.

Additional information is available at www.cerbahealthcare.com

About Cerba Research

We offer world-class clinical research that helps life science companies to successfully develop the predictive and precision medicines of the future.​
We combine the deep expertise and agility of the specialist laboratory with the capacity, breadth and global reach of a central lab. Our unique approach to patient data offers our customers the opportunity to have one partner for all their test services, with regular access and consistent support across all clinical trial phases.​
Our customer-centric approach means flexible solutions to unique challenges, providing reassurance and efficacy, whilst offering agility at scale. Our customers today are our partners tomorrow.

For more information visit www.cerbaresearch.com

About CIRION

CIRION is a leading contract research laboratory providing global central laboratory services for clinical studies and bioanalytical services highly specialized in Biologics/Biosimilars. It offers a comprehensive selection of PKPD/Immunogenicity methods’ development and validation, project management and clinical testing services (GLP and non GLP).
Based in the Montreal metropolitan area, a strategic hub for the management of multinational clinical trials, CIRION is well positioned to respond efficiently to international project requirements.

For more information visit: www.cirion.com

Press contacts:

Cerba HealthCare

Emmanuelle Saby

+33 6 09 10 76 10

[email protected]

CIRION BioPharma Research Inc.

Dr Sylvain Desrochers

+1 (450) 682-2231

[email protected]

The clinical trials landscape is evolving more rapidly than ever before. The COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical instability have put new pressures on the pharmaceutical supply chain. Meanwhile, decentralisation and the Big Data revolution are transforming the way researchers run clinical trials, and previously untapped geographies are emerging as new hubs for future research. In a dynamic environment, companies that take a future-facing outlook, and can offer their clients the flexibility to do the same, will lead the market.

For specialty and central laboratory services provider Cerba Research, a new chief operating officer (COO) has a bold and ambitious vision for the firm, which operates a global network of laboratories in the Americas, Europe, Africa and the Asia-Pacific (APAC) regions. This involves embracing technological innovation while remaining true to the values that bring Cerba Research colleagues to work every day.

The digital revolution

Automation, advanced analytics and technologies like machine learning and artificial intelligence are driving digital transformation across industries. Clinical trials management is no exception.

The Covid-19 pandemic catalyzed an enormous upswing in the adoption of innovations including telemedicine, wearables and remote patient monitoring. According to GlobalData analysis, the number of clinical trials with a decentralized and virtual component increased by 50% between 2020 and 2021, and this trend is here to stay. Out of all clinical trials estimated to be completed in 2023, at least 5% have a decentralized component. Trial decentralization gives sponsors the opportunity to reach previously remote populations, increase participant engagement and accelerate trial completion. For participants, it offers the chance to participate in a trial from the convenience of home, reducing potentially costly and uncomfortable visits to the trial site.

For Jamaels, whose track record in managing complex operations and delivering process improvements spans GSK Vaccines and one of the world’s largest companies, GE, the technological shift is an exciting development: “I’m passionate about the digital transformation that our industry is going through,” he says. “I’m working to see how we can help both the leadership team and the whole organization in playing an active part of that.”

Translating Big Data into results

Big Data is another cornerstone of the digital revolution. Using new technologies, like AI, large volumes of data can be analyzed to generate powerful insights. Clinical trials generate enormous amounts of data from sources including biomarkers, electronic health records, patient reports and wearables and medical devices. Companies that can harness and analyze this data will yield powerful results, including more sophisticated patient recruitment, which helps to improve trial specificity and reduce trial dropout rates.

One of the major strategic projects Jamaels is overseeing at Cerba will eventually bring together all key business processes into a unified and holistic enterprise-wide system. It will allow stakeholders to get full visibility into all proposals and contracts, project planning and schedules, order new kits and quickly assess the status of kits and generally increase efficiencies in clinical trial operations. According to Jamaels, when at full capability, it will leverage the power of digital technology to transform the entire value chain.

“To be relevant within a digital-first world we need to make sure our digital presence is at least up-to-date with established practices but ideally we always want to be ahead of the curve. The portal will be the beginning of a one-stop-shop for our stakeholders, with an easy-to-use interface that will help our stakeholders in their collaboration with us,” Jamaels says.  

“It will make sure that we can become best-in-class when it comes to providing lab services across all our divisions.  It will be the key to positioning us as leaders in a future where decentralized trials makes up at least 50% or more of all clinical trials and will allow us to fully optimize the volume of healthcare data we collect.”

Adapt and thrive

To capitalize on the potential of emerging technologies for clinical trials, structural organizational changes are required to create new ways of working for future success. But making these key changes can be challenging. In the medical field, operators are typically conservative and risk-averse – and the collection, analysis and storage of more data creates new concerns around cybersecurity and data protection.

“But we can’t miss the boat on this. We have to prepare for a world of decentralized trials and to do that, we need to change. We need a new mindset,” says Jamaels. “The good news is that a lot of companies in different sectors are on this journey too and there are a lot of learnings that we can lean on as we move into the digital future.”

Jamaels brings expertise from diverse environments to the challenge of change management at Cerba Research. During his time at General Electric Corporate, he managed the transition of more than 120 HR processes from 12 different business units into a single shared services centre. As head of performance, process and risk management for research and development at GSK Vaccines, Jamaels was in charge of R&D covering clinical, medical, regulatory and technical areas.

Growth in Africa

One new acquisition has recently transformed the field of opportunity for Cerba Research. The purchase of Viroclinics-DDL, an established global specialist virology and vaccine development contract research organisation, gives Cerba Research the opportunity to enhance solutions across therapeutic areas, explore new geographies and build best-in-class logistics services while reducing risks for customers.

The shared expertise and resources enable Cerba Research to broaden its services within cell and gene therapy, infectious disease, and oncology and access new markets in North America, Asia, and Africa, the sites of some of the most exciting growth in clinical trials. GlobalData analysis shows that Asia-Pacific is one of the fastest-growing geographies for clinical research, accounting for more than 50% of global trials in 2022. IQVIA analysis of Citeline TrialTrove database in 2022 shows that clinical trial activity in Africa doubled between 2012 and 2022, but still only represents 3.9% of the global trial landscape. High patient concentration and growing populations in these geographies mean there is plenty of room for further growth.

Jamaels explains that upscaling is a matter of taking smart decisions to make the most of opportunities: “We have a unique position in Africa already and we will continue to expand there. We will leverage what we have and where we have the infrastructure set up,” he says. “When it comes to expanding in new areas where we don’t have any infrastructure, we need to make sure that we are set up for success and we evaluate the risks.”

Guiding principles

When Jamaels reflects on what he is most looking forward to as the new COO of Cerba Research, the company’s people are at the front of his mind.

“I get a lot of energy from having people work together,” he explains. “When you have teams talking to each other and understanding each other’s requirements, then you can improve processes and raise the quality of the work,” Jamaels recently brought together members of the business development team and new starters face-to-face for the first time, to brainstorm how to remain competitive and price smarter. “You could just see the energy in the room and the ideas kept flowing,” he says.

Empowered colleagues and a spirit of continuous improvement are the pillars of success for businesses operating in today’s clinical trials market. “The company has been growing very fast, and there’s a lot of passion from our people,” says Jamaels. “A big focus area is bringing in people and developing people in the organization at all levels. The aim is to give them the right coaching and training to become future leaders.”

In a market like pharmaceuticals, success is measured in more than bottom-line figures. Behind every business goal is a patient population to serve, and companies looking to navigate an exciting, dynamic future should continue to prioritize the values that drive them.

“My vision is that we install a true quality culture, a culture where we do things right first time. Behind every sample, there’s a patient, so patient safety is an integral part of the quality culture,” says Jamaels. “We come to work because we want to make an impact on people’s lives.”

The result is an improved experience for patients, whose participation no longer rests on long journeys to and from sites.

According to Daniel Tanner, chief commercial officer at Cerba Research, this patient-centricity comes with exciting possibilities to improve trials for all stakeholders. “Clinical trials were really not optimized from the perspective of the patient, site or the sponsor; they are increasingly cost ineffective, and they take a lot of time. Decentralization has the potential to solve a lot of these challenges, particularly around participation rates but also importantly around diversity.”

Limited participation has been a thorn in the industry’s side for many years now, with low-enrolling sites a likelihood for virtually any study. As Tanner mentions, clinical trials have also been criticized for their lack of participant diversity. Socioeconomic factors can contribute to access difficulty for minority groups, and a shift to decentralized trials (DCTs) could lift this burden.

“Anything we can do to make it easier for patients to take part in a trial should really help us to recruit and retain patients better, which means studies can be completed faster and more cost-effectively,” he explains. “We can also optimize efficiency from a site perspective, which should mean better patient safety outcomes and data quality whilst potentially enabling them to participate in more research. For sponsors, the benefits are clear because they should be able to develop new therapies faster and more efficiently, which ultimately benefits all of us, particularly if they are more representative.”

There is data to support this possibility. According to an investigation by the Tufts CSDD, DCT deployments were associated with reduced trial timelines, as well as net financial benefits ranging from five to 14 times for Phase II and III trials respectively.[1]

Making the transition

The number of decentralized clinical trials has steadily increased over the past decade, rising from 250 in 2012 to 1,291 in 2021. They are expected to peak even higher in 2022, with GlobalData forecasting the industry to hold approximately 1,425 DCTs by the end of the year.[2]

With such profound benefits to be gained from decentralization, some may wonder why their adoption is not higher. But the pharmaceutical industry has been naturally risk-averse and slow to adopt new approaches, says Tanner.

“Within such a tightly regulated industry, there is natural apprehension to being a first mover. While there are huge returns when you get it right, there’s also enormous amounts of risk and continuous pressure concerning patient safety and data integrity which have inhibited our ability to move quickly.”

Despite this, during the Covid-19 pandemic, necessity really did prove itself the mother of invention. “Covid had an enormous impact not just on clinical trials, but the entire world,” Tanner remarks. “Everybody got used to doing things remotely. Drug development had to change. Many trials have had elements of decentralization for some time, so there were things in place that meant that when the conditions precipitated it, there was a fairly quick move.”

Post Covid, he believes decentralized trials are now “part of the toolkit” and are likely to be deployed at least in some degree to “everything that we do going forwards”.

But there are still many challenges to confront on this journey. First, there’s the change management obstacle, which involves figuring out how to align all stakeholders on a new approach and understanding what processes need to change for a successful transition. At the end of the day, compliance and patient safety will be first and foremost for sponsors, but the complexity of some trials can make this difficult in a decentralized setting.

“Ecosystems, technology, regulations, and even cultures are all different from one country to another, which adds complexity,” explains Tanner. “The reality is that certain protocols, studies, and locations will lend themselves more readily to decentralized trials, whereas many others would prove incredibly challenging.”

Study teams are grappling with well-known obstacles on the operational side, too. These include the logistics of shipping investigative medicinal products to patients, with less control over the drugs being stored and administered correctly.

Arranging blood draws for biological testing has also become a challenge. Mobile nursing is the primary solution, but these services are limited in supply. High demand has raised their costs and caused scheduling challenges. Recent innovations in auto-phlebotomy technology could help patients draw their own blood in the future, meanwhile, some central laboratories such as Cerba Research now offer dried blood spot testing services. This method involves using a small lancet to create a tiny incision. Small droplets of blood are then absorbed into a filter paper, providing an easier blood draw for the patient and an effective biosampling method for DCTs. 

Cerba Research is utilizing its expansive network of city laboratories to draw patients’ blood in hybrid DCTs. With this approach, patients are in the safe hands of medical professionals without having to travel to a clinical trial site potentially many miles away.

Patient access is also an element of DCTs which can be achieved by being where the patient is, their network of routine diagnostic labs in France and Italy, has created new solutions enabling identification and recruitment of patients for clinical trials including Real World Evidence studies utilizing medical and laboratory data.

The next phase

Patient centricity has been the goal of the clinical trial industry for some time now, and the huge leap forward catalysed by the pandemic must now be built on. One example is the increasing focus on incorporating the patient’s perspective into new study designs. It requires teams to engage with patients directly. Making efforts to better understand trial designs through participants’ eyes will be an important action as the industry moves ahead to the next phase. 

“Decentralised trials are just one example of how as an industry we can move away from the traditional model of drug development,” believes Tanner. “Because we have this greater participation and these new research models, we can start to think bigger. We should not be viewing clinical trials as discrete events but try to take a more longitudinal approach to engage individuals with research on new drugs, vaccines, diagnostics, and biomarkers.”

Cerba Research is now working hard to define the position of medical laboratories within this wider vision. “At Cerba, it became apparent to our team that we can either be a passive participant in the market or we can actively try to create this new paradigm. At the start of Covid we updated our strategic imperatives to put decentralised trials as a key pillar,” Tanner says.

“We foresee a huge potential here for our laboratories to enable more DCTs, supporting traditional clinical research and more real-world research by creating an ecosystem which is built around patients.”

[1] https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220113005740/en/New-Study-Decentralized-Clinical-Trials-Can-Achieve-Net-Financial-Benefits-of-5X-to-14X-Due-to-Reduced-Trial-Timelines-and-Other-Factors

[2] The Movement Towards Decentralized Clinical Trials, GlobalData, October 2022

This may sound obvious, but it is still a major hurdle in drug development. A 2022 report published by GlobalData found that in analysis of 12,698 clinical trials initiated over nine and a half years to June 2022 racial minority representation in pivotal studies is extremely low, accounting for 23.9% of the clinical trial population globally. Meanwhile, in clinical trials with available race data, white participants account for 59% of trial subjects, more than the combined total for all other racial categories.

The discrepancy is magnified in pivotal studies with a 76.1% participation of white subjects. This level of homogeneity within the clinical trial population may prevent the identification of variable therapy responses within population subgroups. This may lead to therapies and dosing regimes being less suitable for minority populations – and according to Hans Bunschoten, chief strategy officer at Cerba Research, this is a major problem. He says these issues must be urgently addressed over the next few years as advancing medical knowledge and the role of genomics in treating disease ushers in a new era of precision medicine and new potential to address diseases that affect certain populations.  

Dr Bunschoten’s comments come in an interview to mark a year since Cerba Research acquired virology and immunology contract research organization (CRO) Viroclinics-DDL from private equity firm Summit Partners. Here, he discusses the acquisition and ambitions for the expanded business to become a ‘one-stop-shop’ for specialist clinical services across immuno-oncology and infectious diseases around the world, paving the way for new and innovative therapies.

ou were the chief operating officer (COO) at Viroclinics-DDL before the acquisition, joining Viroclinics-DDL in 2008. Can you tell us a little bit about Viroclinics-DDL?

Hans Bunschoten:

Viroclinics was founded in 2001, spun out of a university setting. Its focus area initially was respiratory viruses but then over time that evolved to include a broader range of viral targets, including highly pathogenic viruses, such as Dengue and Polio. Viroclinics Biosciences – what it was called before the DDL purchase – was also well known for its specialist logistics infrastructure.  

DDL was founded in 1994, also originally started by a group of scientists operating in a university, also specialising in infectious diseases, but with more of a focus on HPV and Hepatitis. DDL had sophisticated expertise in molecular diagnostic testing, which allows for tests to be done outside the living organism in culture to determine whether a person has become resistant to a specific drug and needs to change direction in their treatment and for any mutations to be identified.

In addition, Viroclinics had the unique capacity to propagate viruses in vitro and with its logistics infrastructure was able to transport these fragile biological specimens safely to the laboratories for efficacy and resistance analysis. The capabilities of Viroclinics and DDL allowed us to rapidly test repurposed drugs, new vaccines and antiviral solutions for the prevention and treatment of patients affected by COVID-19 in 2020. Being an agile and innovative organisation, Viroclinics-DDL teamed up with scientists all over the globe to find practical solutions to initiate and perform clinical studies at a rapid pace.

That’s when Viroclinics-DDL started getting a lot of attention from potential buyers and became a prized acquisition target.  

Why did you accept the offer from Cerba Research?

HB: I welcomed the opportunity to partner with a likeminded company. Having a private equity owner can be great for access to working capital but with an industry partner, you are working towards a common mission and have shared values.

Cerba Research and Viroclinics-DDL have a lot of synergies. The most obvious is that both firms are highly scientific and so that presents a lot of opportunity to exchange knowledge and research. In addition, safety oncology and immunotherapy, which is a focus area for Cerba Research has close ties to virology. The technology platforms are almost the same. Gene therapy, while in its infancy, could be a gamechanger for cancer treatment and certain rare diseases and advancements in gene-editing technology relies on knowledge of viral factors. The opportunity here for our expanded CRO to advance personalised medical solutions is huge.

A lot of unique assays have already been added to a common portfolio and colleagues from both businesses are working well together. We are poised to accelerate groundbreaking RNA therapy and vaccines for biopharma customers while becoming the reference lab for the cell and gene therapies of tomorrow.

What future developments are you most excited about being part of Cerba Research?  

HB: Through its parent company, Cerba Healthcare, Cerba Research has a large and established presence in Africa, which has about a fifth of the world’s population with an enormous amount of genetic diversity, but the continent is almost completely untapped when it comes to conducting clinical trials. Yet, multiple diseases are endemic to Africa as a result of poverty and climate.

As ethnic groups respond differently to treatment, it is vital to boost the number of clinical trials on this continent for better science and more effective patient-centric medicine. COVID-19 really underscored the problems here, revealing how millions of people – Africa has more than 1 billion people – could be locked out of vital treatments as a result of being left out of studies. When it comes to global pandemics, this oversight doesn’t just have local consequences but global consequences too.    

In five to 10 years’ time, Africa will be a significant market for clinical trials and international research and Cerba Research has a golden opportunity to capitalise on its two-decade history of operating clinical pathology and cytology services in 15 African countries. The creation of a joint venture with longstanding partner Lancet Laboratories, Cerba Lancet Africa, in 2019 to operate clinical capabilities in 11 African countries outside South Africa creates a market-leading offer for biopharma companies wanting to invest in the continent with confidence and we are excited to be able to lead this change.

The partnerships Cerba Research has in China also presents exciting opportunities for developing precision medicine solutions. In China, biological samples cannot leave the country to be tested in specialty labs elsewhere, as is the usual way in other countries. But by working together with local partners and helping them to set up systems and processes that mirror those we have in our laboratories in Ghent and Rotterdam means we can offer our clients a patient database in China.

Read more about our recent Memorandum of Understanding with Teddy Lab in China

Ultimately, our mission is to be a “one-stop-shop” CRO for specialist clinical services for global pharmaceutical and biotech companies at this transformative time for medicine. The merger of Viroclinics and DDL and now Viroclinics-DDL and Cerba Research brings together unparalleled geographic coverage, specialist logistics infrastructure, pioneering techniques in precision medicine and unrivalled scientific knowledge in virology and immune-oncology and the huge potential that gives us, is very exciting to me.

Cerba Research (Ghent, Belgium), a leading global clinical trial laboratory service provider owned by Cerba HealthCare, announced today a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Teddy Clinical Research Laboratory (Wuxi, China), a preeminent central lab provider covering mainland China, to lay the foundation for an in-depth discussion towards the creation of a Joint Venture (JV).

The two companies, along with Cerba Research’s specialty virology subsidiary Viroclinics-DDL, have had a long track record in collaborative projects since 2012, from specialty assay transfers to full clinical trial management and logistics support services. This MoU strengthens the existing relationship by facilitating strategic development of services and operational collaboration at both local and global level. The agreement outlines a natural evolution of the relationship and primarily reflects the increasing demand for broader local capabilities in China within an integrated global solution, therefore offering strong value by creating  a gateway for customers to conduct studies in China whilst enabling local Chinese customers to operate globally.

The intended JV will leverage Teddy’s strong reputation within mainland China for high quality central lab solutions, backed with over 12 years of clinical trial experience, with Cerba Research’s market-leading scientific expertise & technical capabilities spanning immuno-oncology, cell & gene therapy, vaccines and infectious disease research drug development. 

The formal signing ceremony of the MoU today at Cerba Research’s Ghent office was led by Mario Papillon, CEO of Cerba Research, and Xu Yi, CEO of Teddy Lab, on behalf of their respective organisations.  The event was also attended by representatives of the Wuxi Government and members of the executive team for both parties.

Mario Papillon, CEO of Cerba Research comments: “This MoU is an important milestone with Teddy Lab which demonstrates our commitment to expand our footprint into new geographic territories and to best support our global biopharma customers in their evolving needs. We are delighted to deepen our partnership with Teddy Lab that will enable us to build on existing knowledge and increase services within China to support customers with their global drug development programmes. Teddy Lab has been a trusted partner for many years and mirrors our commitment to high-quality, patient-centric solutions. We are honoured by Wuxi’s support and their dedication to pave the way for future and stronger cooperation.” 

“With today’s MoU signing celebration, Cerba Research and Teddy Lab show their will to serve as a bridge from overseas markets to China, and vice versa. It is aligned with Teddy Lab’s strategy and complementary with Teddy Lab’s geographical presence. We are impressed to see Cerba Research’s success in recent years and confident in the future outcome. Teddy Lab also reached multiple milestones in the past 5 years. Particularly, Teddy Lab Wuxi set up in 2020 with the great help of Wuxi Government. During the pandemic, Teddy Lab Wuxi have supported over dozens of COVID drug or vaccine clinical trials, many of which are working closely with Cerba Research, and as a result, multiple candidates have been approved under emergency use in different countries. I am proud and humble to say that, together, Cerba Research and Teddy Lab have contributed greatly to the fight against the pandemic. We look forward to deepening our collaboration in next decades and contributing more to state-of-the-art clinical trials for efficient medicine to patients’ benefits throughout the world”, says XU Yi, CEO Teddy Clinical Research Laboratory.

About Cerba Research

We offer world-class clinical research that helps life science companies to successfully develop the predictive and precision medicines of the future. 

We combine the deep expertise and agility of the specialist laboratory with the capacity, breadth and global reach of a central lab. Our unique approach to patient data offers our customers the opportunity to have one partner for all their test services, with regular access and consistent support across all clinical trial phases. Cerba Research is part of Cerba HealthCare, a leading player in medical diagnosis, and has over 300 active studies, of which 70 studies initiated in 2022, spanning 85 countries and ~10,000 active sites.

For more information: www.cerbaresearch.com

About Cerba HealthCare

Cerba HealthCare, a leading global player in medical diagnosis, aims to support the evolution of health systems towards more prevention. It draws on more than 50 years of expertise in clinical pathology to better assess the risk of diseases development, detect and diagnose diseases earlier, and optimize the effectiveness of personalized medicine. Every day, on five continents, the Group’s 16,000 employees sustain the transformation of medicine, driven by one deep conviction: to advance diagnosis is to advance health.

About Teddy Clinical Research Laboratory

As a joint venture company established in 2016 by Dian Diagnostics (300244.SZ) and Tigermed (300347.SZ / 3347.HK), two of the top listed medical service companies in China, Teddy Clinical Research Laboratories Shanghai is a one-stop clinical research laboratory service solution provider dedicated to providing drug development-related services to pharmaceutical companies, CROs and research institutions in strict compliance with GCP regulations and international standards.    

Ghent, Belgium, 11 January 2023 Cerba Research announces membership of HKBMIA as an advisor on specialty testing and routine clinical trials testing to advance research and health while supporting Asia pacific healthcare companies develop new therapeutics. 

HKBMIA actively introduces bio-pharmaceutical innovation technology projects from overseas and assist in various aspects, including fundraising, R&D technology, patent protection, regulations, valuation, clinical trial design and planning, contract development manufacture, project commercialization to enter Mainland China and Asia markets. 

Through collaboration with members of HKBMIA, Cerba Research aims to deepen the understanding on the role of specialty testing with a multi-specialist laboratory provider to support the research and development of new therapeutics. 

“The ambition of HKBMIA is to promote communication, exchange and cooperation amongst the biomedical innovation technology industry, research institutions, investment industry and government organizations. The understanding of Asia pacific companies regarding contract research organisations and central and specialty lab testing is limited, and the assistance that Cerba Research can provide to our bio-tech members will be decisive in helping them achieve their clinical and commercial objectives” says Professor Lo, president of HKBMIA

“We are delighted that HKBMIA has welcomed Cerba Research into their network and look forward to sharing our expertise with the Chinese market. Our collaboration with Prof Lo and HKBMIA builds on a decade of collaboration within China and reflects our continuing ambition to facilitate research and development in the region and support innovative Chinese biopharmaceutical customers to expand beyond their shores” adds Daniel Tanner, Chief Commercial Officer, Cerba Research. 

About Cerba Research 

Cerba Research is a global next-generation drug development company with integrated, end-to-end research, development and diagnostic solutions to optimize R&D productivity and commercialization. Cerba Research provides global clinical trial central & specialty laboratory and IVD solutions, across a range of therapeutic areas to advance research and health. 

About HKBMIA

HK Bio-Med Innotech Association (HKBMIA) was founded by Prof Lo Yuk Lam (former Chairman, Advisory Council On Food And Environmental Hygiene, Food And Health Bureau, Government Secretariat HKSAR) and experts from the biotechnology industry and the investment industry in 2017. HKBMIA is committed to establishing an innovative and international biomedical technology platform in Hong Kong, promoting communication, exchange and cooperation amongst the biomedical innovation technology industry, research institutions, investment industry and government organizations in the Greater China Region in the areas of innovative R&D, industrialization, regulations and policies coordination, investment and financing.

Cerba Research is happy to announce that our CerbACT lab in Taiwan has received its CAP Certification. CerbACT Asia is a joint venture between Cerba Research and ACT Genomics to create a purpose-built lab facility in Taiwan covering the Asia Pacific region.  

This expansion of the precision medicine offering includes central labs, flow cytometry, histopathology, and translational science laboratory services. Deep scientific expertise from both sides of this strategic alliance will support new growth areas for biotech and pharma clients globally and drive better patient outcomes across all phases of clinical trials. 

The expansion includes investments in a new facility in Taipei (Taiwan) and state-of-the-art technologies to strengthen capabilities and services offered to our clients on a truly global scale:

• Cutting-edge flow cytometry technologies
• Exploratory as well as In Vitro Diagnostic histopathology services
• Peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) isolations from blood and soft tissues

Recently Cerba Research has released its CSR Report for 2021/2022. At Cerba HealthCare, we believe that corporate social responsibility is inherent in our commitment to advancing health and patient care. Aligned with our business, CSR also takes shape in the areas of human capital, business ethics and respect for the environment.

At Cerba HealthCare, we are convinced that clinical pathology is the key to not only offering more personalised and effective treatments, but also to moving towards a more preventive health system. The nature of our mission – improving health through medical diagnosis – reflects a requirement that engages each of us within the Group.

As a healthcare player, the company’s social responsibility – CSR – is inherent to our business and our concerns are naturally human-oriented.

Within the Group, many initiatives which symbolise our approach to responsibilities were born well before we imagined that they would find a legitimate place in a CSR report! For example, for more than 20 years, we have been investing in the training of our employees and the medical community, and in 2016 the group founded the 1st corporate university in the world, specialising in clinical pathology.

With the creation in 2015 of Institut Cerba, our endowment fund, Cerba was equipped with a tool to promote and develop community-based healthcare projects around the world that make it possible to promote its many employees involved in civic actions and to support associations.

Finally, the Group’s values are the natural foundation of our CSR approach: excellence, commitment, boldness and respect.

We are fortunate to be able to devote ourselves to a mission of the common good. This opportunity is also a responsibility that obliges us, and I am proud, on behalf of the Group, to see the commitment of our 15,000 employees being extended to this CSR approach.

Together, transforming diagnostics for clinical trials

After the acquisition of Viroclinics-DDL by the group Cerba Healthcare, we are delighted to announce that Cerba Research, the group’s global clinical trial central and specialty laboratory services division, has now merged with Viroclinics-DDL, a fast-growing global specialist virology and immunology contract research organization (CRO).

We are united in our shared expertise, values, and mission for improving people’s lives by enabling clinical trials for drug development across the world. Our ambition is to build the future of healthcare together with our people and customers.

Expanding and transforming our diagnostic solutions for clinical trials while reducing risk for our customers

With our enhanced portfolio of integrated specialty testing services and assay development in multiple therapeutic areas, and the latest technology available in flow cytometry, immunohistochemistry, NGS, and immunoassay, we offer a more comprehensive portfolio of solutions and capabilities at every stage of clinical trials.

Our portfolio of scientific and technical expertise combined with our global capabilities, vast databases of patient data and samples, and best-in-class logistics remove the uncertainty from sample management, reduce risk, and enable the accuracy and acceleration of your drug development projects from start to finish.

Access to exceptional scientific and technical teams in multiple treatment areas for drug and vaccine development

With our unparalleled scientific expertise, the fast-expanding portfolio of therapeutic areas includes a focus on Oncology and Immuno-Oncology, Metabolic Diseases, Virology and other Infectious Diseases, Inflammatory and Autoimmune Diseases, Neurology and Rare Diseases.

Your global partner for specialised laboratories and patient data

Our customers will continue to access industry-leading scientists and technical teams with our cutting-edge specialist laboratory network of over 1000 labs including, BSL2 and BSL3 labs in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and Australia, as well as data from over 45 million patients across five continents, removing the uncertainty from accessing patient data.

Best-in-class logistics services

This merger makes secure sample management and transportation at a global scale even more effective. Our global in-house logistics capability will facilitate a safe and guaranteed sample management process, ensuring that even the most fragile and unstable samples are transported without compromising their integrity and safety. Every sample counts.

Business as usual

Both Cerba Research and Viroclinics-DDL take pride in their project management and customer service capabilities and skills. Now, as one company, our customer-centric approaches are strengthened even more. For our customers, there will be no disruptions. It is business as usual. Both companies will eventually unite under the Cerba Research brand, however over the coming weeks, Viroclinics DDL will be known as a Cerba Research company, reflected in the updated logo.