Synexus opens two South African research centres

Synexus, a UK-based company which recruits and runs clinical trials for the pharma, biotech and CRO industry, has opened two new research centres in Pretoria, South Africa.

The centres, based in Mamelodi and Meyerspark in the northern part of the Gauteng province, will focus on Phase II-IV trials, housing state of the art equipment, including a DXA scanner for tissue and bone X-rays, and digital X-ray facilities.

The Meyerspark centre will focus on Phase II-IV trials for chronic diseases in primary care, while the Mamelodi site, which is positioned next to the Mamelodi primary care centre with which it will work closely, will branch into other R&D, including vaccine and infectious diseases.

To open the Mamelodi centre, Synexus signed a memorandum of understanding with the Stanza Bopape Community Trust, which runs the services of the primary care centre. As part of the MoU, Synexus built the site, then effectively gave it to the trust and rents it back.

It has also developed a community library and employed local people from the area, in return for conducting trials and gaining access to the patient population at the hospital.

SA presence

The centres add to Synexus' already-established South African research centre in Pretoria, a 36-bed clinical trial facility. Added to this, another smaller centre in Soshanguve is also set to be opened in the next 12 months, pending agreements with the local community, Synexus' chief executive Michael Fort told Scrip.

The expansions are in line with Synexus' plans in the country, after announcing last October it planned to double its clinical trial capacity in South Africa, citing the large patient population and highly skilled medical community as attractive features of the area.

Synexus has been operating in South Africa since 2006, and its turnover there has increased by around 60% since then.

In addition to its African activities, Synexus also has research centres in the UK, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and India.