Monday, May 5, 2008

New England execs help Italian region win more clinical trials

By Ryan McBride

Last week, a group of life sciences executives from the commonwealth -- representing Tufts Medical Center; Phase Forward Inc., a clinical trials software firm; BBK Worldwide, a clinical trials management company; and Court Square Group, an IT consulting firm for life sciences and other concerns -- traveled to Milan to meet with Italian health-care officials.

The purpose of the trip was to advance from concept to reality a 3-year-old deal between the state of Massachusetts and the Lombardy region to help Italy to attract more clinical trials and to commercialize research, said Keith Parent, CEO of Court Square Group, based in Springfield.

Clinical trials are a coveted source of revenue for research institutions and hospitals that can bring thousands of dollars for each patient in the studies. Yet Parent noted that Italy has only about 2 percent of the multibillion-dollar European market for trials because of a perception that the studies are difficult to conduct there.

The Lombardy government has already agreed to pay $300,000 to the Bay State groups aiding its cause, officials said. And the next phase of the project, which Parent and others hope will create a regional research organization in Lombardy, would bring fees paid to Court Square and partners up to about $1 million. Parent said he expects Lombardy officials to decide on whether to move forward with the next phase by June or July.

For Massachusetts biotech firms, Lombardy could provide additional sites at which to conduct clinical trials and tap research for new drugs, officials said. The Massachusetts Office of International Trade & Investment (MOITI), which forged the deal with Lombardy, says that half of the biotechs in Italy hail from the region.

Patrick Bench, director of business development at MOITI, said Lombardy selected Massachusetts as its partner for the project in 2005 from a field that included North Carolina and California.