NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) WIRB-Copernicus Group (WCG) today said that its Clinical Services Division has entered a strategic partnership with InformedDNA, under which the companies will create a new "Center for Genetics and Precision Medicine in Clinical Trials," offering support services to biopharmaceutical companies, contract research organizations, and academic institutions in the design and conduct of precision medicine clinical trials.
Under the partnership, WCG and InformedDNA hope to combine InformedDNA's genetics resources and expertise with WCG's global network of 550 experts in clinical trial optimization and its proprietary industry Knowledge Base. The planned center will offer customers guidance in applying genetics to the design trials, and to identify, recruit, and manage patients.
"With the rise in precision medicine, protocols have become increasingly complex," InformedDNA Chairman and CEO David Nixon said in a statement. "Through our partnership with WCG, we will teach research sponsors how to effectively apply genetic expertise to their studies so that they can derive the most value from their research," he added.
Patient engagement and subject recruitment will be a large part of the services, the companies said, combining WCG's experience in driving study enrollment in rare disease populations and InformedDNA's global network of genetic datasets. As part of the new center, the companies will also offer genetic counseling and genetic test interpretation services to patients and investigators.
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.