WILMINGTON, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PPD, Inc. (Nasdaq: PPDI) today announced it has opened a vaccine clinical research center in Taizhou, China, further strengthening its clinical research and development services in one of the country’s major regions for conducting vaccine studies. Through the center, PPD will provide clinical monitoring services to global and local biopharmaceutical companies seeking to develop vaccines in China.

Located at the Taizhou China Medical City, the center will help biopharmaceutical companies address unique requirements for conducting vaccine clinical trials in the country. Vaccine studies in China are conducted by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention instead of at Phase I clinics or by investigators at hospitals, and they require thousands of patients for enrollment, compared to hundreds for studies conducted in other countries. Yet, China has a short recruitment period for vaccine trials.

“The vaccines market is one of the fastest growing segments in the industry, and in China the clinical trial market is growing at about 20 percent each year,” said Simon Britton, PPD’s vice president of clinical development for Asia Pacific. “Our strong expertise in vaccine clinical research and large presence in China make us well positioned to help our clients ensure adherence to global standards while addressing unique requirements for monitoring vaccine studies.”

The China Medical City has become a national hub for international and domestic pharmaceutical, biomedical and biotechnology companies and is part of a long-term plan to advance Taizhou as a global leader in research and development and position it as one of the world’s premier biopharmaceutical facilities.

PPD opened its first office in China in 2003 and is now the largest contract research organization in the country with nearly 1,100 employees. Its acquisitions of Excel PharmaStudies, Inc., and BioDuro LLC, last year strengthened the company’s drug discovery and development services in the country and advanced its goal of becoming China’s number one services provider for the biopharmaceutical industry.

PPD is a leading global contract research organization, celebrating 25 years of providing drug discovery, development and lifecycle management services. Our clients and partners include pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, academic and government organizations. With offices in 41 countries and more than 10,500 professionals worldwide, PPD applies innovative technologies, therapeutic expertise and a commitment to quality to help clients and partners accelerate the delivery of safe and effective therapeutics and maximize the returns on their R&D investments. For more information, visit www.ppdi.com.

Except for historical information, all of the statements, expectations and assumptions contained in this news release, including expectations and assumptions about the opening of the vaccine clinical research center and its contribution to PPD, are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Although PPD attempts to be accurate in making these forward-looking statements, it is possible that future circumstances might differ from the assumptions on which such statements are based. In addition, other important factors which could cause results to differ materially include the following: economic conditions and outsourcing trends in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, academic and government industry segments; competition within the outsourcing industry; success in sales growth; loss of large contracts; increased cancellation rates; rapid technological advances that make our products and services less competitive; risks associated with acquisitions and investments, such as integration challenges and impairments; the ability to attract and retain key personnel; risks associated with and dependence on collaborative relationships; risks that we may not continue our dividend policy; and the other risk factors set forth from time to time in the SEC filings for PPD, copies of which are available free of charge upon request from the PPD investor relations department.