Apollo Hospitals' JV partner shuts unit

Regulatory hurdles hits US-based clinical research company's Phase I Unit

US-based Quintiles, which has a clinical trials joint venture with Apollo Hospitals, has decided to shut its phase-I unit in Hyderabad.

Confirming the development, Phil Bridges, director (corporate communications), Quintiles, said the board of the joint venture had decided to shut the unit “due to a challenging external business environment”.

“All employees of the phase-I Hyderabad unit who opted to continue their careers with Quintiles were absorbed in other businesses. We continue to operate our clinical pharmacology units in London and Overland Park, Kansas, as well as partner sites in the US, the EU and Asia, and are well-positioned to provide a full suite of early clinical development solutions to customers,” he said in an emailed response to Business Standard.

The unit employed about 20 workers.

The decision to shut the Hyderabad unit wouldn’t impact other Quintiles businesses in India or its early clinical development operations in other countries, Bridges added.

An Apollo Hospitals official said the closure of the unit was due to the fact that adverse regulatory conditions were putting approvals across the industry in jeopardy. Apollo was working with Quintiles on other clinical trials, and these operations would continue, he added.

When the joint venture was announced in January 2011, the partners had said they would invest about Rs 40 crore in Quintiles Phase-I Clinical Trials India Private Ltd. Quintiles holds 60 per cent equity stake in the venture.