Velocity Clinical Research announces its further expansion in Europe, adding five sites in Poland after acquiring multisite network KO-MED Centra Kliniczne and two in Germany, having acquired The Pulmonary Research Institute at the LungenClinic Grosshansdorf and KLB Gesundheitsforschung Lübeck.
Velocity’s growth is accelerating across Europe, with 17 locations in the U.K., Poland and Germany. The company is now one of the largest site organisations in Europe in addition to it being the largest sites business in the United States.
Dominic Clavell, European General Manager for Velocity, said: “Our European network is now larger than the size of Velocity’s network when it was sold to GHO Capital."
"Velocity is building an integrated network of sites that can change the paradigm and we have the size and scale where we can recruit enough patients, either for entire studies or contribute significantly to country targets in Europe. This dramatically speeds up site start-up times, saving considerable time for CROs and Sponsors.”
The acquisition of KO-MED is Velocity’s first foray into oncology research, which accounts for roughly 40–50% of clinical trials globally.
KO-MED has been the leading multisite network in Poland since 2020, having enrolled more than 9000 patients into clinical research.
Marek Konieczny, MD PhD, President of KO-MED’s Board, said: “I have been involved in clinical research for more than 25 years and there are always new challenges which stimulate me to find new approaches."
"In most cases, the participant of a clinical trial benefits from taking part, which is of great importance, especially in oncological trials. I’ve seen first hand when under my supervision, patients who previously had very little chance of surviving now live longer, enjoying more time with loved ones."
The Pulmonary Research Institute has done more than 300 studies since opening 25 years ago, leading research in bronchial asthma, bronchiectasis and pulmonary fibrosis. Anne-Marie Kirsten, MD PhD and Henrik Watz, MD PhD both join Velocity as principal investigators (PIs), being leaders in Pulmonary research in Europe.
Dr Kirsten said: “Since the beginning of our career as internal medicine doctors and pneumologists, we realised that only clinical research holds the potential for innovation. The therapeutic progress during the last 15 years in COPD, pulmonary fibrosis and asthma is a major achievement towards an improved quality of life of our patients, which we substantially contributed to.”
Dr Watz added: “With the backbone of Velocity we clearly see the unique opportunity for faster recruitment, use of common resources and infrastructure and the collaboration within a family of experienced and highly professional set of researchers."
"As doctors, we will be able to focus more on our patients and their needs because administrative tasks will be handled by the common infrastructure backbone Velocity provides.”
The new sites join Velocity’s existing four sites in Germany, one in Poland and five in the UK, of which three are newly opened greenfield sites. Velocity has almost 100 locations globally and access to more than 220 principal investigators and one million patients.
Velocity’s sites are fully integrated via a centralised infrastructure and common technology backbone, allowing for superior patient enrolment and consistent, high-quality data delivery.
As a result, CROs and biopharma companies can benefit from faster and simplified access to patients in North America and Europe.
