January 20, 2015
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
Speculation is growing about what contract research organization (CRO) Pfizer will choose as a third alliance partner. Rumors spun this week that Quintiles was the front runner, but other sources suggested a privately-owned CRO was to be chosen.
At the April 2014 Partnerships in Clinical Trials (PCT) conference held in Las Vegas, a Pfizer spokeswoman indicated the company was satisfied with their CRO contracts with Icon and Parexel , but suggested a third might be chosen. “We are exploring the option of bringing in a third alliance partner but we haven’t made any announcements on this yet.”
At that time, Ross Muken, an analyst with ISI Group suggested Quintiles. “Parexel and Icon shouldn’t be that impacted from a volume standpoint.”
A Quintiles spokesperson said in a statement, that it “does not comment on specific business development efforts,” adding, “Pfizer has been and remains a customer.”
Two privately-owned CROs, PPD and inVentiv , considered by some to be the lead prospects if, indeed, Pfizer opts for a third alliance partner, have been ambiguous in their responses to the media.
“As a general policy,” said PPD director of corporate communications and public affairs, Ned Glascock, in a statement, “and because of confidentiality agreements with our clients, I hope you will understand that PPD neither confirms nor denies involvement in any specific study or work with any specific client.”
“We have a long-standing relationship with Pfizer,” said inVentiv spokeswoman Danielle DeForge in a statement, “and continue to provide them with a wide range of best-in-class CRO services to help them achieve their clinical goals faster and with higher quality results.”
Pfizer is withholding specifics, merely stating that it is looking a third clinical trial contractor to supplement existing vendors.
On Jan. 7 BioSpace reported that Boston, Mass.-based Parexel International (PRXL) had announced plans to hire 450 GlaxoSmithKline employees and create its own dedicated business unit to service GSK in the U.S. Parexel indicated it expects to continue having plenty of business with big pharma in 2015, regardless of whether they face competition with one of their big clients, Pfizer.
“Pfizer already utilizes other vendors for specialized services outside Icon (ICLR) and Parexel,” said Evercore ISI analyst Ross Muken in a statement. “We view it is unlikely that it proves to be a negative for either player on an absolute basis. If Pfizer adds an additional partner it is likely to be incremental to existing plans.”
It has been suggested that Parexel had taken on a disproportionate number of Pfizer studies that were in progress, and many of those studies wrapped up in the first half of 2014. “I think it’s just normal ebbs and flows,” said Parexel CEO Josef von Rickenbach in a statement, “nothing particular to be read into the relationship.”
BioSpace Temperature Poll
What Are Your Predictions for the Price Bidding War? The market has been buzzing about an escalating price war between large payers like Express Scripts and Big Pharma. Multiple deals last week showed Gilead forming exclusive pacts and smaller companies like Kite Pharma starting talks early. What do you think will be the effect on prices? BioSpace wants your opinion!
