Biotrial, a Contract Research Organization, Continues to Expand its Activities, Creating a Neuroscience Pool: Biotrial Neuroscience

In order to meet the biopharmaceutical market’s growing need for niche services and cutting-edge technology, Biotrial announced today that it has reinforced its existing CNS group through the acquisition of equipment and experience from the CNS focused CRO, Forenap.

For over 20 years, Biotrial has been very active in CNS drug evaluation, conducting trials to fully assess the psychoactive properties of compounds. The aim of the new Biotrial Neuroscience division is to give clients access to a pool of scientific expertise, state-of-the-art equipment, and a collaborative environment with other Biotrial groups: the Non-Clinical Department dedicated to in vivo evaluation, model development and translational medicine, the Clinical Department involved in Early Phase Healthy Volunteer and Patient Studies, Biotrial Bioanalytical Services (BBS) that offers capabilities for bioanalysis, custom assay development and validation as well as biomarker quantification, and the Biotrial Core Lab for centralized PD assessments (EEG, ECG, etc.) in mono- or multicentric trials.

Jean-Marc Gandon, PharmD, Biotrial President and CEO, commented on the enhanced experience: “Targeted medicine is at the heart of innovation right now and there is an increasing trend to perform clinical trials with a pharmacological and therapeutic approach very early on. CNS has been a key area for many years at Biotrial, so when we heard that Forenap was unfortunately closing we wanted to integrate some of Forenap’s highly qualified and motivated individuals into our CNS team, as well as their research center’s state-of-the-art equipment. This stage is now completed and we have fully established our extensive testing capabilities to help our clients with their projects in neuropsychiatry and neurocognitive diseases, as well as pain relief therapies.”

Philippe Danjou, Biotrial’s R&D Director, stated: “I am extremely proud to have had the opportunity to join the dynamic team at Biotrial in an R&D role. Today’s environment of developing differentiated drugs that deliver proven patient benefits is more challenging than ever, especially in the CNS domain, so having strong capabilities and expertise in-house is necessary for a CRO to fully meet their clients’ needs. Biotrial Neuroscience has capitalized on broad experience and a solid track record in conducting CNS-focused clinical trials, and with the integration of Forenap’s experienced personnel and equipment, Biotrial Neuroscience now provides more extensive servicesin the field of Electrophysiology (EEG, ERPs), Sleep studies, Neuroimaging and Pain models.”