Lars-Olof Eriksson, Ph.D., MS.c. has been appointed vice president of PAREXEL’s Start-up and Accelerated Recruitment Team (START). Dr. Eriksson will lead a global team that provides strategic, comprehensive approach to accelerate study initiation and achieve last patient in (LPI) milestones for regional and international trials conducted for clients.

"Approximately 45% of study delays are due to patient recruitment and enrollment issues. To help biopharmaceutical companies overcome these costly delays, PAREXEL has expanded our study start-up and recruitment capabilities under the leadership of Dr. Eriksson," said Mark A. Goldberg, M.D., chief operating officer, PAREXEL. "As the number, size, and complexity of trials increase, we expect our clients to benefit significantly from the additional depth of Dr. Eriksson's expertise in achieving faster timelines and superior clinical program performance."

Dr. Eriksson has more than 30 years of experience in patient recruitment, site implementation, project management, and global drug development and has expertise in implementing programs across Europe, North America, and Latin America. Dr. Eriksson previously served as senior director of clinical research operations, specializing in patient recruitment, at Merck. While at Merck, he also had responsibility for worldwide site implementation.