Customer service and logistics are key to clinical trial sample analysis

The pharmaceutical industry is an international marketplace. With dedicated central laboratories in the UK and US, alliances in Asia, South Africa and Australia, CentraLabS can offer a truly global service. By Dr Daniel Chapple.

It is a well known fact that customer service and timeliness are the two key features that top pharmaceutical companies believe must be improved if strong relationships are to developed between them and contract research organisations (CROs). For a central laboratory to offer a really good service, these two factors are not only important, they are vital. Many pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies know that these can be achieved by smaller niche CROs but often want the expertise and specialist services that are offered by larger organisations.

The CentraLabS service at Huntingdon Life Sciences effectively meets these requirements. It provides a dedicated customer service expected of a small niche company coupled with the expertise of a large full-service company. Because it has dedicated CentraLabS facilities in the UK and USA, customers receive a flexible, personal service to support their global clinical trials. Also, as part of the Huntingdon Life Sciences organisation, CentraLabs has the backing of full analytical support for both routine and esoteric techniques and has a reserve of expertise at all levels of the drug development pathway.

Logistics and timeliness

The pharmaceutical industry today is an international marketplace. With dedicated central laboratories in the UK and US, alliances in Asia, South Africa and Australia, CentraLabS can offer a truly global service. During the past five years, numerous multi-centre studies have been completed ­ from small regional trials to large Phase III global trials.

Strategic alliances with international courier services and a dedicated logistics team ensures that your global trials run seamlessly, effectively and reliably. The exact sample turnaround time is dependent on the country but is generally within 24 hours and results for samples collected in the UK before 10am are analysed and reported the same day. The CentraLabs' logistics department ensures that all samples are tracked and received within 24-48 hours and has the experience to deliver and receive samples anywhere in the world.

Accurate, robust and timely data is essential to the success of clinical studies and is dependant upon professional staff and established procedures. The CentraLabS people are dedicated to intelligently applying their expertise and skills towards the success of projects. Couple this with flexible data management and a rapid results reporting system (ClinAxys II) and you get complete and secure access to real-time data when you need it.

During the clinical trial process, CentraLabS will need to support both the client and the investigator sites. Not only are contact details of the Study Project Manager given to all relevant people, but also contact details for the deputy project manager, business development manager, logistics manager, courier and a 24 hour helpline. Many customers have said that they expect to work with knowledgeable and professional staff ­ and CentraLabS ensures that this is the case. Each investigator site receives investigator manuals and all sample kits include full instructions; these items can be provided in any language and local support is always available.

With the ever increasing rise in novel targets and the rapid advancement in technology, it is important to remain flexible whilst offering the esoteric capabilities that clinical development now demands. CentraLabS are able to offer extensive in-house speciality testing and routine analysis. Specialist capabilities include flow cytometric analysis, immunoassay development and validation expertise in radioimmunoassays, PCR, mass spectrometry, gas chromatography and HPLC. We strive to maintain a high level of uniformity and consistency in all our facilities. All laboratories have the latest instrumentation that has been validated to ensure identical results from all facilities. This ability to reproduce results in all laboratories is especially important in large multi-centre trials, where samples will be analysed in more than one laboratory. CentraLabS will also manage all specimens, track samples and report data in a rapid manner using ClinAxys II data reporting system.

CentraLabS gives pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies full clinical pharmacokinetic support whether the samples were analysed at CentraLabS or not. The CentraLabS motto aYou expect the best service, we deliver nothing less' demostrates our commitment to improving the relationship between companies and their central laboratories. By being so flexible, CentraLabS has gained a reputation for effective method development and validation.

ENQUIRY No 28

Dr Daniel Chapple is Business Development Manager, CenraLabS, Huntingdon Life Sciences Ltd, Woolley Road, Alconbury, Huntingdon, Cambs PE28 4HS. Tel: +44 (0)1480 892000. Fax: +44 (0)1480 892205. www.huntingdon.com

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