Early Development and Innovation

Navigate the complexity of early-stage development

We take an integrated approach to early-phase studies, helping you mitigate multifaceted risk. Through a unified strategy that addresses every aspect of development, we enable faster decision making and establish a sound foundation for later-stage work.


Adopt a future-focused approach

The smartest early-phase research capitalizes on both current and coming opportunities. Whether our team is guiding biomarker selection, planning for diverse patient recruitment, or steering regulatory strategy, we work with the future in mind. Because we understand the challenges you’ll face at every milestone, we help you make future-informed choices that smooth your product’s path to market.

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We are seeing customers that want to go earlier into patient studies, that want to combine healthy volunteer with patient cohorts. And with that, you know, doing the Early Phase research in a different, more integrated and truly innovative way.

And I think as Parexel, we are well positioned to help them. We have four hospital-based units in the US and Europe and literally within a one hour driving distance, have access to more than 60 million healthy volunteers and patients. That is unique.

Moreover, our units are embedded in research environments Los Angeles, in Baltimore, London, and Berlin. You can plan the patients, you can plan the sites. But just imagine if the drug doesn't reach the site, how are you going to conduct the trial? And that's what the importance of clinical trials supplies in the districts is. So I think it's really critical that you start planning your supply chain much more in advance right from the moment the protocol design comes into play.

Working hand in hand with the consulting colleagues, or logistics colleagues, and many other parts of Parexel, that truly helps a customer to not only see that one study, but see the bigger picture. And that we think different, think smart about that early drug development journey.

Parexel as a clinical research organization makes it so much easier for us to understand and have that mindset of patient first and patient safety, right? And which is why pharmacovigilance fits very well into the overall clinical offering as well.

We are not only doing today the pharmacovigilance services in the clinical studies that we're doing, but we are also looking at commercial products as well.

Once they're into the market and we follow the entire lifecycle of that product build, that product is into the market.

Phase I clinical trials

In Phase I, we test your drug in humans for the first time. Drawing equivalence between two different species, with different enzymes and biology, is technically challenging, but our translational science team takes the animal data you’ve acquired and precisely translates it into human data, resulting in a quick and reliable move to a first-in-human trial. 

Human testing is heavily regulated across jurisdictions. Our experience and relationships with major regulatory bodies help determine where and when to start a first-in-human trial and generate the validating data you need. Our network of early-phase partner clinics and our experienced teams in clinical pharmacology and modeling and simulation support you in fast and reliable progress through Phase I.

Phase I clinical trials

We can run your trials in any major region of the world with deep expertise and resources, including in the Asia-Pacific.

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Proof of concept: Phase Ib-IIa

Our translational science group provides the necessary foundation for success, moving the data derived from healthy humans into those in a disease state to confirm that the biochemical processes are the same. We focus on determining dosage requirements, working to generate data powerful enough to show investors that the drug successfully treats the disease state.

To support this goal, we offer support across all major therapeutic areas, give you access to a global investigator network, and provide ethnobridging capabilities to accelerate worldwide development.

Proof of concept: Phase Ib-IIa

We work with pharmaceutical companies of every size, with extensive experience in the biotech space.

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Patient engagement strategy and enrollment solutions

Many clinical trial participants face barriers to participation, from inadequate information about study opportunities to inconvenient times and locations for test visits. As a result, some patient populations have lacked access to possible therapies, and studies have lacked the diversity of participants required to ensure widespread effectiveness.

We focus on the practicalities of patient access and engagement. We recruit widely and track proper population diversity throughout the study. By capturing patient preferences and maintaining appropriate communication with them, we help you recruit and retain the diversity of participants you need.

Patient engagement strategy and enrollment solutions

Over the course of 90+ dermatology studies that enrolled 30,000+ patients our patient education and engagement tactics led to better screening rates, optimization, and a lower dropout rate.

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Site Alliance Network and KOL engagement

Both initial recruitment and retention are increasing problems for clinical trials, resulting in delays, early study closings, and less reliable results. It can be difficult for potential study participants and their physicians to learn about clinical trial opportunities. The complexities of trial start-up impose additional delays. All of this slows the progress of research.

We provide a network of sites and investigators, as well as connections with community and specialist physicians, so patients have a path to studies through their established care delivery systems. Our IRB partnerships speed up approval, and our established relationships with key opinion leaders enable sponsors to identify possible barriers before the start of protocol development.

Site Alliance Network and KOL engagement

Site Alliance members partner with Parexel to improve research and the patient experience. We continuously look for ways to make study launch activities more efficient. 

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Protocol optimization

Study start-up has become increasingly challenging. Protocols are more complex, the volume of necessary third-party data is larger, and investigative sites are more difficult to manage. Choosing the right sites and ensuring that protocols don’t impose unnecessary burdens on the recruited participant population facilitates a smoother experience for you and investigators.

Our clinical adjudication program identifies potential issues early in the process. Our drug safety and pharmacovigilance continually monitor risks and benefits to study participants, immediately identifying possible safety issues. And our health economic modeling brings economic endpoints into the study, ensuring that the eventual drug will demonstrate cost effectiveness.

Protocol optimization

Our scalable drug safety and pharmacovigilance (PV) models are ready to meet your needs with flexibility and global reach.

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Regulatory strategy

Regulatory planning and risk mitigation at this early stage of development is a major contributing factor to successful drug development outcomes. Partner with our global team of ex-regulators and industry specialists in the early phases of product development for regulatory intelligence, strategic regulatory advice, agency consulting and engagement, regulatory gap analysis, product development plans, and more. 

Regulatory strategy

Our global team of consultants includes former FDA, EMA, and NMPA regulators, so you can advance your trials with confidence.

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Market access strategy and delivery

Build the complete evidence package that payers require, from the outset. At Parexel, we’re perfectly positioned with fully integrated regulatory, access, HEOR, RWE, and patient-reported outcomes (PRO) services to collect the right evidence. Starting early is key, and as a result, you benefit from a real-world point of view relevant to reimbursement while developing and adapting your product’s evidence-driven value story throughout the research lifecycle. 

Market access strategy and delivery

Our global market access team is prepared to set your project up for success, right from the beginning.

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Biomarker and genomic medicine strategy

Bioanalysis and genomic research are critical to drug development and trial design. When you identify target biomarkers and genetic variants early in the development process, you’ll have a clearer idea of the steps you need to take to turn your new drug into a reality. You’ll be able to select patients for your study with greater accuracy and confidence, ask the right questions when designing your trial, and better articulate the benefits of your drug when it’s time to enter the market. 

At Parexel, we offer a comprehensive portfolio of services to help you develop a winning biomarker and genomic medicine strategy. 

Biomarker and genomic medicine strategy

A recent study found that clinical trials using biomarkers are twice as likely to succeed as those that don’t, making our biomarker strategies all the more vital to your project.

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Clinical trial supply and logistics

Whether conducting a small regional or a complex global trial, you need a robust supply chain network that includes country-specific knowledge and a close connection to local authorities. We provide the knowledge, systems, and connections to achieve end-to-end clinical trial supply chain management. We’ll help you build a supply chain that sails through international pressure points and delivers drugs to patients and trial sites right on schedule.

To ensure that our clients are free to conduct trials around the world, we operate a hub-and-spoke network of depots that seamlessly move drugs and ancillary supplies to investigator sites. Our skilled team of trade compliance professionals will handle customs declarations, apply for permits, and manage interactions with local governments so you can focus on running the best trial for your patients. 

Clinical trial supply and logistics

We’ve won multiple Asia-Pacific Bioprocessing Excellence Awards, including 2021 Best Clinical Supply Chain, 2020 Best Supply Chain Digitization, and 2019 Most Robust CRO Supply Chain.

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Patient inclusion

Clinical trials have often been an exclusive space, rather than an inclusive one, with serious consequences for patients in underrepresented groups. At Parexel, it’s our mission to change that. We’ve gone straight to patients, caregivers, physicians, and community leaders to identify factors that prevent patients from enrolling in clinical trials.

No matter what steps you’ve taken to address equity and inclusion in your trial design process, we’re ready to work with you. We’ll help you design trials that include patients who otherwise might not have been able to participate due to issues such as time, finances, and transportation. By focusing on inclusion, you’ll help more patients while developing drugs and therapies that can work for all. 

Patient inclusion

Through TriNetX Live, we’re able to access a network of millions of patients in more than 30 countries, so you can access the diverse populations you need.

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Medical communications

Engage the people who matter most. At Parexel, we combine a comprehensive portfolio of medical communications services with expertise in all major therapeutic areas, as well as clinical development, patient engagement, real-world evidence, health economics, market access, regulatory, and more — to communicate vital data to your stakeholders.
 
Our team consists of Medical Affairs strategists who collaborate with highly skilled PhD, PharmD, and MD writers, seasoned medical editors, meeting logistics experts, and creative, digital, and design specialists. Together, we enhance educational experiences and bring your science to life across every stage of development.

Medical communications

Our writers have deep experience across therapeutic areas, resulting in more relevant, impactful medical communications.

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Operational excellence

Constantly evolving how we deliver trials

The purpose of our Operational Excellence and Delivery Office is to continuously and consistently improve the way we run your trials. By assembling our most experienced, cross-functional team members, we create best practices business wide that accelerate timelines, generate compelling evidence, promote innovation — and empower us to deliver With Heart™.