PPD opens office in India

PPD Inc, a USA-based global provider of discovery and development services and products for pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies, has announced the opening of a new office in Mumbai, India. This new drug development site provides patient recruitment and clinical monitoring for Phase II-IV studies in key therapeutic areas.

"The Mumbai office expands our geographic footprint in Asia and enhances our ability to conduct global studies in industry-targeted therapeutics," said chief executive Fred Eshelman.

Recent regulatory reforms have made India an important new market for clinical research, said PPD, noting that market research group CenterWatch has reported that India's pharmaceutical market is the second largest in Asia, increasing more than 9% annually. Some experts project total clinical research spending will grow more than 30% annually for the remainder of this decade, resulting in revenues for clinical research services potentially reaching $75 million in 2005 and $300 million plus by 2010.