Ghent (Belgium), 08 February 2021: The newly formed Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) of Europital – a globally-focused, full-service CRO serving small and mid-tier innovators – forewarns that a clinical knowledge deficit amongst smaller biotechs will potentially slow trials in 2021.
The Europital SAB, comprises a group of clinical KOLs and specialized industry experts and has been created to address many of the more complex targets and biologies that now proliferate in the drug discovery pipeline.
“The drug discovery pipeline is increasingly made up of smaller and more nimble innovators with limited clinical experience in-house. Yet, with many of the low hanging fruit already having been developed, molecules and biologies are becoming ever more complex. The challenge for small and medium pharma and biotechs is how to access appropriate high-quality clinical knowledge – and this clinical deficit over the next few years is set to be a critical factor in any candidates advancement,” commented Dr. Mohamed El Malt, Chief Medical Officer of Europital.
Europital predicts that investment communities – backing many early-stage development programmes – will look holistically at biotechs and their partners to ensure that deep therapeutic expertise is available. This forensic approach ensures expeditated development timelines and de-risk projects, especially as the business and investment model is to prove safety and efficacy for their drug candidates in Phase I and II clinical trials before seeking a sale or further rounds.
“It’s no secret that unlike the larger pharma companies that can pull in the best resources from the largest CROs, smaller companies must increasingly compete to ensure they can access the best clinical knowledge, as this can be the difference between delays due poor trial management and planning, and even, a project’s potential success or failure,” added Dr. El Malt.
Europital launched earlier this year as a science-focused CRO, and its SAB has therapeutic experience in oncology – including indications such as breast cancer, head and neck cancer, urological malignancies, and lymphoma – neurology, endocrinology (including indications such as type 2 diabetes, chronic complications of diabetes, diabetes therapy, and adipose tissue biology), hematology, autoimmune and infectious diseases
The SAB will be chaired by Europital CEO, Mohamed El Malt and comprises more than 100 years’ experience from the sponsor side of conducting clinical trials.
Notes to editors
Scientific board members
- Prof. Dr. Lazar Popovic, MD, PhD, Professor of Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Novi Sad
- Kevin H. McAllister, PhD, MBA, Neuroscience Expert
- Prof. Dr. Djordje Popovic, MD, PhD, Asst. Prof. Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Univ. of Novi Sad
- Thierry Cousin, MD, Medical Expert.
- Dr. Mohamed El Malt, MD, PhD, Europital Chief Medical Officer and Mr. Marc Messier, PhD, Europital Executive Director of Project Management]
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About Europital
Europital is a global contract research organization (CRO), providing a full range of services for the clinical research and other drug and medical device development phases. We collaborate with sponsors in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries and also for governmental and scientific Institutes.
With Europital’s scientific mindset, methodical approach and creative, science-driven solutions, each valued member of our Europital team is dedicated to delivering the highest quality services with a high sense of project ownership. Europital’s readiness, reliability and flexibility all mean we are committed to the success of clinical projects worldwide.
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