Russia?s first commercial early-stage clinical trial center launched in St. Pete

Russia?s first commercial RandD center for early-stage clinical trials opened in St. Petersburg last week as a joint project between the state-owned RVC Biofund and its portfolio company, BioEc

Russia?s first commercial R&D center for early-stage clinical trials opened in St. Petersburg last week as a joint project between the state-owned RVC Biofund and its portfolio company, BioEc, the RVC website announced. BioEc was set up in 2012 to assist Russian and international pharmas and biotech developers in bringing new drugs to the Russian market. The new Center is reported to focus on Russian and global pharmas that seek ways of testing original drug candidates and generics. The Center is expected to operate ?in full compliance with western testing standards.? The BioEc Clinical and Pharmacological Center has equipment and infrastructure enough to launch sophisticated research into bioequivalency (how close a generic is to its original drug) as well as phase 1 clinical trials. In addition, the Center will offer clinical base for research and also provide logistic and administrative support for customers. The Center will undertake to process data obtained to get proper statistics, too. ?The national market for bioequivalency study and phase 1 clinical trials is currently estimated to be at least $20m, and we forecast its growth potential at up to $60m a year,? said Egor Beketov, the director of the RVC Biofund...