QPS, a leading global contract research organization (CRO), continues to expand and align its full-service preclinical, bioanalysis, and clinical capabilities with the evolution of demand for clinical trials. QPS announced the expansion of its Miami, Florida Phase I clinical trial capabilities to support the growing needs of sponsors.
QPS announces the grand opening of its newest clinical trials unit in Miami, Florida. This new 21 bed unit will complement the existing 85 bed clinical trials unit currently serving the Biotech and Pharmaceutical community. With this new capacity, QPS is poised to accommodate the rapidly increasing demand for obesity trials, as well as continue to support complex, early phase studies in special populations. QPS has extensive experience in allergies, asthma, cell & gene therapy, CNS, COPD, diabetes, elderly, oncology, pediatrics, rheumatoid arthritis, vaccines, women’s health, and many more therapeutic areas.
“We have expanded our Phase I clinical trial capabilities to better serve the hundreds of companies developing potential new obesity-related drugs. We have completed more than 1,500 Phase I-IV clinical trials for drug candidates and this expansion will enable us to support exponentially more sponsors as they progress compounds through proof of concept and First-in-Human trials to the point of candidate nomination,” said Benjamin Chien, Chairman, President, and CEO, QPS Holdings, LLC.
“Our pipeline is filled with sponsors that need this level of support. The number of First-in-Human studies is rapidly increasing and there are very few sites across the country that can conduct them,” said Jose Marcos, Vice President of Clinical Operations, QPS Miami. “QPS is well-known for its success in First-in-Human studies. We excel at complex and special population Phase I trials, and our enrollment and completion rates are among the best in the industry.”
With the expansion comes an increased focus on quality. “To ensure the quality of our clinical trials is maintained, QPS has hired an additional full-time principal investigator to ensure dedicated, physician-involvement at every stage of our trials,” said Chien. “We now have five full-time principal investigators, and a network of more than 25 board-certified subspecialty physician investigators to support the increased volume of studies in our pipeline.”
Wendy Marquina, MD, American Board of Obesity Medicine certified physician, has joined QPS as a primary investigator dedicated to Phase I trials. She brings Board Certification in Obesity, as well as expertise in internal medicine and women’s health to QPS. Since the discovery of the anti-obesity effects of GLP1 and GIP inhibitors, the number of obesity-related clinical trials has dramatically increased. More than 2,300 clinical studies related to obesity are listed as ongoing on clinical trials.gov, and the number is increasing as more companies join the effort to tackle this serious disease and its related comorbidities.
“We expect this demand for obesity-related studies to continue,” said Marquina. “Obesity trials are specialized and unique. And they are in high demand, particularly for companies that want to find an effective solution to this debilitating disease. The road so far is littered with failures in this space, so there is real excitement in the medical community that there may finally be a pathway to help these patients.”
Supporting this expansion in Miami, QPS has co-located its specialty lab services within its Miami-based clinical site. “In the market, you’ll find CROs that offer clinical services, and then you’ll find specialized labs. At QPS, we now we have the unique combination of clinical services and a specialized lab combined under one roof,” said Chien. “That’s important because many of our studies require lab samples to be processed quickly, in less than eight hours. This is only possible by having the clinical site and specialty lab co-located.”
With this newly expanded facility and additional leadership specializing in obesity, QPS is satisfying the need for agility, flexibility, and speed in the global drug development community, with a focus on serving the needs of the Biotech and Pharmaceutical industry to support global drug development from preclinical through post-marketing needs.