LENEXA, Kan., Nov. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- IBT Laboratories, an international immunology and allergy laboratory specializing in clinical research, development and testing, today announced the expansion of its contract pharmaceutical services division. To more effectively support the growing demands of pharmaceutical and biotech firms and contract research organizations (CROs) worldwide, IBT will invest more than $2 million in the next year to round out its leadership team, expand its world-class facility, develop new assays, introduce new services and aggressively pursue international business opportunities.
IBT’s expansion efforts will enable the company to meet increased demand from the biopharma community for outsourced immunodiagnostic services. This trend is being driven by new FDA mandates requiring that clinical trials include assessment of a drug’s impact on the immune system. To this end, IBT is investing in R&D efforts to develop new assays for innate immunity, immunogenicity and disease-specific biomarkers. The company also plans to make corresponding capital investments in its operational infrastructure and will continue building out its customer service, shipping and logistics functions to accommodate the expected increase in business. This includes enhancing its analytical and sample tracking systems and forming strategic relationships with global transportation carriers.
“Last year our revenues increased by 26 percent over the previous year as a result of a spike in business from global pharmaceutical companies,” said John F. Halsey, Ph.D., IBT’s founder and president. “We anticipate that our clinical trial services will continue to grow exponentially based on industry projections that the contract pharmaceutical development market will reach more than $42 billion by 2010. As one of the only laboratories in the U.S. specializing in molecular and cellular immunology, IBT provides a critical service that helps our clients efficiently and cost-effectively obtain FDA approval of their new drug candidates.”
To further establish its commitment to the biopharmaceutical and CRO markets, IBT recently made several strategic appointments to its executive leadership team. Michelle Hunter, Ph.D., M.B.A. was named vice president of sales, marketing and corporate development; Linda Rene Pfaltzgraff, MT (ASCP) was appointed vice president of laboratory operations; and Michelle Altrich, Ph.D., was named senior scientist. These veteran scientists have a combined 50 years of leadership expertise with prominent global pharmaceutical services firms. They add further depth to IBT’s specialization in immunology, pharmaceutical development, contract research, quality assurance, compliance and clinical laboratory operations. The company plans to hire 10 additional key contributors in the next year to further bolster its industry-leading research, assay development and clinical trial testing competencies.
IBT has also retained professional marketing firm, Synergy Marketing Group, Inc., of Indianapolis, Ind., as its agency of record. Synergy is charged with increasing industry awareness of IBT, promoting the company’s clinical trials services and establishing deeper relationships within the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and contract research market sectors.
About IBT Laboratories
IBT Laboratories (IBT) is an international allergy and immunology laboratory specializing in both contract research for pharmaceutical development and reference laboratory services for diagnostic testing. The company also develops custom assays for validation of biomarkers, cytokine expression, vaccine efficacy and innate immunity function. As the premier provider of esoteric molecular and cellular immunology services in the U.S., IBT serves some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, in vitro diagnostic firms, contract research organizations (CROs) and central labs. The company delivers research, testing and assay development services to support all phases of drug development, from exploratory testing to Phase IV clinical trials. Additionally, IBT offers hospitals, universities, clinical labs and physicians the widest range of diagnostic allergy and immunology tests available from a single provider. IBT’s research-based philosophy, coupled with its expertise in immunology, immunotoxicology, custom immunoassay development, allergy diagnostics, immunogenicity, immune monitoring, cellular immunology and immunogenomics enable it to deliver the world’s most advanced and comprehensive immunodiagnostic services.
Founded in 1983, IBT is privately-held and centrally headquartered in Lenexa, Kansas, a suburb of Kansas City. The company’s state-of-the-art laboratory features advanced instrumentation for flow cytometry, ELISPOT, microarray testing, ImmunoCAP allergy, PCR, SNP, cell culture and T cell function testing. IBT’s strategic Midwest location enables fast, convenient shipping of time- and temperature-sensitive specimens anywhere in the world. For information about IBT and its services, please visit http://www.ibtreflab.com or call 1.800.637.0370 (inside the U.S.) or + 1.913.492.2224.
MEDIA CONTACTS Denise McFadden Barbara Adderley Synergy Marketing Group, Inc. Synergy Marketing Group, Inc. 317-205-9690 x 5 317-205-9690 x 4 denise@synergy-mg.combarbara@synergy-mg.com
IBT Laboratories
CONTACT: Denise McFadden, +1-317-205-9690 ext. 5, denise@synergy-mg.com ,or Barbara Adderley, +1-317-205-9690 ext. 4, barbara@synergy-mg.com , bothof Synergy Marketing Group, Inc.
Web site: http://www.ibtreflab.com/
