PPD Opens Vaccine Clinical Research Center in China

PPD has opened a vaccine clinical research center in Taizhou, China. Through the center, the company will provide clinical monitoring services to global and local biopharmaceutical companies seeking to develop vaccines in China.

Located at the Taizhou China Medical City, the center will help biopharmaceutical companies to address the requirements for conducting vaccine clinical trials in the country. Vaccine studies in China are conducted by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention instead of at Phase I clinics or by investigators at hospitals, and they require several thousand patients for enrollment.

"The vaccines market is one of the fastest growing segments in the industry, and in China the clinical trial market is growing at about 20 percent each year," said Simon Britton, PPD's VP of clinical development for Asia Pacific.