Pharm-Olam has become the latest contract research organization to be added into the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority's (BARDA’s) Clinical Studies Network.
It joins PRA Health, which also penned a deal with BARDA this week, in what had been an exclusive club of CROs that began as five at the start of the network’s existence in 2012.
BARDA is now expanding its list of contractors after assessing its medical countermeasures unit—which deals with things like pandemics—and seeing it needed broader access to CROs. It’s no surprise to see that in 2020, the need for this has become more acute.
Under the new pact, Pharm-Olam, a midsized CRO, has been selected to provide “routine and/or response clinical services for the advanced development of medical countermeasures (MCMs).”
Its remit covers trials form phase 1 to 4, with the contract being a minimum of two years and stretching to a maximum of five years, and has a $250 million total contract ceiling value.
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“We are pleased to have been selected by BARDA to support medical countermeasure (MCM) development and the fight against emerging infectious diseases,” said Jason Ezzelle, Pharm-Olam’s chief commercial and government contracts officer.
“This agreement is the result of our focused investment in our infectious disease business, and further builds upon our growing federally-funded clinical trials portfolio, including support for Operation Warp Speed [the government program backing vaccines, treatments and drugs for COVID-19].”