PAREXEL has entered an alliance with CHA Medical Group (CHA) aimed at enhancing early phase clinical development in Korea. The collaboration is designed to provide biopharmaceutical companies with services that leverage PAREXEL’s global clinical research and regulatory expertise with CHA’s experience conducting early phase studies in Korea.

Korea represents a growing hub for drug development for early phase trials due to government investment in the industry and access to patients. Korea’s regulatory requirements, modeled after the U.S. FDA, enable sponsors to use the data from early clinical studies conducted in the country for global development.

Through the partnership, PAREXEL and CHA have recently completed a Phase I clinical trial at CHA’s flagship facility in Seoul, South Korea.

“Enrollment challenges are a primary cause of delays in Phase I/II studies which involve target patient populations, and many companies struggle with gaining access to patients while conducting trials in a safe and controlled environment,” said Stanford Jhee, PharmD, corporate vice president, Early Phase Scientific Affairs at PAREXEL. “With this partnership we are aiming to bring our biopharmaceutical clients interested in conducting trials in Korea not only broad access to patients, but the expertise necessary to conduct the trials from start to finish, generate quality Phase I data needed for global development and gain the market advantage essential to commercial success.”