Pharm-Olam opens St Petersburg office

Texas, USA-headquartered Pharm-Olam International and MB Quest, a member of the POI Group, have opened a third Russian office in St Petersburg. POI is a multinational full service contract research organization to pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

"With offices in Moscow, Novosibirsk and now St Petersburg, we can offer sponsors cost-effective coverage in the three most populated areas in Russia," said Eugene Barg, president of MBQ. "We have conducted clinical research in Russia since 1997, and had previously covered sites in St Petersburg with regional employees. Because of the concentration of state-approved sites for research and the continued interest from sponsors it made sense to establish a permanent office there. We have highly qualified clinical teams throughout Russia and the majority of our staff have medical degrees and PhDs and many of them are specialists."

The latest office location provides convenient access to several therapeutic hospitals in the second largest metro area in Russia and expects to have 20 clinical staff by the fourth quarter. With the addition of St Petersburg, the POI Group now has 25 offices worldwide to assist sponsors in Phase I to Phase IV research. MBQ operates in Russia, Ukraine, Georgia and Belarus. It is also a founding member of the Association of Clinical Trial Organizations in Russia.