Pharmaceutical services company Quintiles has expanded its work with Vietnam with a new focus on improving clinical trial standards in the country.
The two-year agreement with the Vietnam Ministry of Health’s Administration of Science, Technology and Training (ASTT) would assist research on better treatments for diseases that affect Vietnam and Southeast Asia, said ASTT director Prof Nguyen Cong Khan.
“Quintiles knows how to conduct clinical research to global standards and its experts understand Asia and Vietnam,” Prof Khan said. “By sharing their knowledge and insights, Quintiles can help us develop and execute a long-term plan for improving the quality, scope and breadth of clinical research in Vietnam.”
The partners will seek to address a areas such as how best to improve trial management processes, streamline trial processes and train investigators and ethics committees.
Quintiles, which has offices in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, has been working with the ministry to provide investigator training and site development since first establishing a presence in Vietnam in 2005, noted Ross Horsburgh, who leads Quintiles’ operations in Southeast Asia, Taiwan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
He added: “This agreement deepens our commitment to developing medicines here to fight tropical and infection diseases and other conditions that afflict populations in Vietnam and Southeast Asia.”