HORSHAM, Pa., May 03, 2005 - Acurian, Inc., a full-service provider of site and patient recruitment solutions, announced today that the company has appointed Richard "Rick" Malcolm, Ph.D., as the company's new CEO, replacing Mark Eisenach who concluded his four-year tenure as chief executive officer.

Dr. Malcolm was most recently the vice president of business development at ICON Clinical Research, a large Contract Research Organization (CRO) with offices worldwide, where he was responsible for North America.

"I'm exceptionally grateful for the opportunity to build upon Mark's notable achievements at Acurian, and to do so with people who truly understand the value of performance-driven services," stated Dr. Malcolm. "Based on my experiences within the life sciences industry, I'm not surprised to see that patient recruitment is still a sticking point in the research continuum. I'm pleased, however, to see that Acurian has built and delivered several successful services to address recruitment issues, and I look forward to building on the company's recent growth."

At the end of 2004, Acurian was managing a company-record 35 projects. The company subsequently ended the first quarter of 2005 by winning a record 18 project awards, including agreements with four new and six repeat customers.

"Clearly, Acurian is on the right track with regard to recruitment services that resonate with its customers," continued Malcolm. "We closed business with three of the top four pharma companies and had one of our highest proposal quarters to date. That means we've established a healthy level of visibility in the marketplace and, frankly, that is a great climate to step into as the new chief executive officer."  

Dr. Malcolm, who received his Ph.D. in Pharmacology at the University of Southern California, has over 22 years experience in healthcare management, including his four-year engagement at ICON, central laboratory general management, product marketing experience at SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals (now GlaxoSmithKline), and executive leadership responsibilities at early stage pharmaceutical companies.


Acurian is a leading, full-service provider of clinical trial patient and investigator recruitment solutions for the life sciences industry. Through its proprietary patient panel, exclusive pharmacy partnerships, and centralized screening platform, Acurian is able to identify, contact, prescreen, and refer qualified respondents, as well as profile and recruit experienced investigators, quickly and affordably. Since 1998, Acurian has helped accelerate more than 125 clinical trials for over 30 pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including 8 of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies in the world. Acurian's investors include Euclid SR Partners, ProQuest Investments, JP Morgan Partners, CDP Capital Technology Ventures, Flatiron Partners & Merck Capital Ventures. Additional information about Acurian is available at 

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