Synexus celebrates opening of two new Dedicated Research Centres in Pretoria

In October 2008 Synexus announced its intention to double its clinical trial capacity in South Africa and Michael Fort acknowledged that this event signalled their on-going commitment to that goal: "We are on track to meet our aim of doubling clinical trials capacity here, and expect to do so before the end of 2009. The facilities at our new centres are excellent, as are the medical staff working for us here. We have a great team on board to lead our developments in South Africa, with Dr Sanet Aspinall and Dr Luthando Adams bringing tremendous local and professional experience to add to our strengths. We hope to be celebrating the opening of our next centre in Soshanguve within the coming months."

The new centres are in addition to Synexus' existing South African research centre which has a 36 bed phase I and IIa clinical trials unit with a well established record for delivering high quality trials on time. All the centres will benefit from the use of new, state of the art equipment including a DXA scanner and digital x-ray facilities.

Dr Ian Smith, founder of Synexus, is confident of the long term prospects for Synexus operations in South Africa: "From the start of our operations here we have seen impressive year-on-year growth. The combination of the large patient population and the highly skilled medical community make it a sought after destination for pharmaceutical and biotech companies who are finding patient recruitment increasingly difficult. We currently have four major trials underway here, all part of wider international studies, as well as more than thirty Phase I to Phase III trials."

Dr Sanet Aspinall, who leads Synexus' operations in South Africa explained how working in partnership with the local community has helped deliver the state-of-the-art Stanza Bopape centre: "Synexus signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Stanza Bopape Community Trust to construct a facility on its premises. The Trust is a non-profit making organisation providing a range of services including healthcare to improve quality of life for the local community. We now have the first custom-built medical research centre to be constructed in a township in South Africa and are looking forward to working together with our community partners."