Parexel and Kyoto University Hospital Announce Strategic Alliance

Ki-CONNECT collaboration seeks to offer clinical trial benefits to patients and the pharmaceutical industry

BOSTON and DURHAM, N.C., Oct. 20, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Parexel, a leading global clinical research organization (CRO) focused on development and delivery of innovative new therapies to advance patient health, and Kyoto University Hospital today announced a strategic alliance aimed at providing more opportunities for clinical research and producing efficient and productive ways of supporting clinical studies. As part of Parexel’s Alliance Site network — consisting of more than 500 sites and over 17,000 investigators across the globe accelerating access to and enrollment of patient populations for clinical trials — Kyoto University Hospital will share their therapeutic expertise and opportunities to contribute to specific areas of research.

“We’re excited about this collaboration and our ability to help drive clinical trial innovation,” said Clare Grace, Ph.D., Chief Patient Officer at Parexel. “Our organizations share a passion and commitment to conduct cutting-edge clinical research to advance the future of medicine and help patients in need.”

“Parexel’s clinical and operational scale dates back more than 20 years in the Asia/Pacific region,” said Shigehiro Miki, Japan General Manager at Parexel. “This collaboration will help us further our efforts to bring new and innovative medicines to market.”

Kyoto University Hospital established Ki-CONNECT, which is dedicated to early-phase clinical trials. Started in April 2020, Ki-CONNECT conducts clinical trials for cancer, intractable diseases and regenerative therapies using iPS cells in addition to Phase I trials with healthy volunteers.

“It is my great pleasure that we have signed an alliance agreement with Parexel,” said Manabu Muto, M.D., Ph.D., Director of Ki-CONNECT, Professor, Department of Therapeutic Oncology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University. “We expect that this will be an advantage not only for Ki-CONNECT but also for various other developers. I sincerely hope that many innovative medical treatments will reach the clinical stage based on this alliance.”

Parexel’s collaboration with Ki-CONNECT is an extension of the company’s deep commitment to put patients at the heart of everything we do, help identify barriers to clinical trial participation and improve study start-up timelines and recruitment metrics.

About Parexel
Parexel supports the development of innovative new medicines to improve the health of patients. We provide services to help life sciences and biopharmaceutical clients everywhere transform scientific discoveries into new treatments. From decentralized clinical trials to regulatory consulting services to leveraging real world insights, our therapeutic, technical, and functional ability is underpinned by a deep conviction in what we do. Parexel was named “Best Contract Research Organization” in December 2020 by an independent panel for Informa Pharma Intelligence. For more information, visit parexel.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.

About Kyoto University Hospital
Kyoto University Hospital was established in 1899, we have a history of over 120 years. We are committed to providing safe, relief medical care based on this three-basic philosophy, (1) Providing safe and high-quality medical care as a patient-centered hospital (2) Contributing to society through the development and practice of new treatments (3) Fostering medical professionals with a sense of mission, responsibility as well as compassion.

Conducting research on new medicine and developing new medical technologies is an important mission of Kyoto University Hospital as a core clinical research hospital. We are working with the Center for iPS Research and Application of Kyoto University to develop new treatment methods for intractable diseases, such as transplanting neurons produced from iPS cells into patients with Parkinson’s disease and drug discovery based on research using disease-specific iPS cells.

We established Clinical Bio-Resource Center in 2017, to collect, manage and utilize human biological sample (clinical bio-resource) efficiently from patients and healthy persons at preclinical phase. In 2020, Kyoto Innovation Center for Next-Generation Clinical Trials and iPS Cell Therapies (Ki-CONNENT) was established and is dedicated to early clinical development.

Media Contact:

Christine Rogers
Vice President, Corporate Communications
984-900-6485
Christine.rogers@parexel.com