Quintiles Transnational has signed an agreement with Medca Japan to provide central laboratory services in Japan. Quintiles will have its own staff at the College of American Pathologoists-certified Medca laboratory in Saitama, a city in the Greater Tokyo area. The lab will support clinical trials in Japan.

“Recent changes in legislation are allowing Japanese pharmaceutical companies to extend clinical trials normally conducted in Japan to other countries in Asia, but these companies have had difficulty finding central lab services that are harmonized throughout the region,” said Tom Wollman, senior vice president, Quintiles Global Central Laboratories. “With CAP-certified labs in Beijing, Singapore, Mumbai and now Japan, we can provide well-controlled processes and harmonized testing services throughout the Asia-Pacific region to customers in Japan as well as our multinational customers. This lab, along with all labs in our network, will follow the same standard operating procedures, and data will be available on our QNET database.”

“This collaboration with Quintiles will be very helpful for the future success of Medca Japan,” said Yutaka Kannari, president of Medca Japan Laboratory Co., Ltd. “We receive more than 30,000 specimens for examination per day, and this relationship will allow us to strengthen out clinical trial services while supporting continued growth of our existing laboratory operations.”

Medca provides a broad range of laboratory services, including biochemical tests as well as endocrine testing, tumor marker testing, drug-level testing, immunology testing and microbiological testing. The laboratory has undertaken specimens for examination from about 4,000 medical institutions throughout Japan.

The relationship with Medca will be managed within Quintiles by Alan Ong, Vice President and General Manager, Quintiles Labs Asia, who will give technical guidance, and Narimatsu, who will provide his expertise on the Japan market.