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In what may be a harbinger of academic-corporate partnerships for psychiatric drug development, the Yale University School of Medicine's department of psychiatry has forged an alliance with a private contract research organization (CRO) to facilitate clinical drug development.
Yale announced the partnership with CRO Scirex Corporation late last year. Scirex describes itself as "a central nervous system (CNS)--focused drug development services company."
In general, CRO's help drug companies navigate the research protocols required by the Food and Drug Administration. Scirex will aid Yale researchers in the planning and regulatory aspects of psychiatric drug development.
The Yale department of psychiatry has approximately 110 full-time faculty members. The partnership with Scirex is designed to cut the time it takes for new therapeutic discoveries to reach the market, according to Benjamin Bunney, M.D., chair of the department of psychiatry.
"University medical schools have traditionally been the proving ground for some of the most revolutionary new advances in medical science," said Bunney. But a combination of forces over the last decade, including managed care and declining government research funding, have "eroded the financial base needed to support this critical work," he added.
Scirex President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Choukas echoed Bunney.
"New treatments for psychiatric disorders are desperately needed, and the complexity of drug approval requirements is significant," he said. "By collaborating with Yale psychiatrists, we hope to speed clinical drug development and potentially reduce the time it takes for new therapeutic discoveries to reach the market."
Choukas, a former executive for the international financial consulting firm Dun & Bradstreet, founded Scirex in 1996. As part of the new alliance, Scirex is managing a 6,000-square-foot outpatient and clinical research facility on the Yale medical school campus.
The company's stated mission is "to provide pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients with optimal control of the drug development process through the integration of clinical development services and clinical site management."
Scirex is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pa., with offices in Hartford, Conn., and Austin, Tex. It is building a national network of clinical sites in psychiatry and analgesia. The company now runs a total of nine sites in Connecticut. It also employs more than 325 people nationwide and owns or operates 18 investigative sites designed for clinical trials.