Like many success stories, Clinical Development Solutions rose from frustration over an unmet need.
In the late 1980's while managing the Winnipeg Rh Institute and ABI Biotechnology, Dr. Albert Friesen, President and CEO of CDS, experienced first hand the needs of a small biotech company when outsourcing their clinical trial work. A small biotech needed service providers that were accessible, cost efficient and less bureaucratic than large clinical research organizations.
His solution was to create an in-house team of professionals . . . and the roots of CDS were planted.
As the teams' experience grew, so did the trial size from an initial trial of 30 subjects to trials with 90, then 900 and 3000 patients.
Dr. Friesen saw that the clinical trial team could work quickly and be responsive to customer needs, thereby saving them money.
In 2008, based on their history of high quality clinical trial research, the group spun off into GVI CDS taking on major clinical trials for outside sponsors such as the SAVI study on Aggrastat for Medicure Inc. and the CARIN trial for Ishemix Inc.
CDS functions with a flat organizational structure resulting in agility and cost savings . . . advantages we pass on to our customers.
Nancy Stewart, CDS Senior Scientific Manager, recalls while working on the CARIN trial that enrollment became very challenging due to the highly specific and rare patient population needed for the study. At the same time, the sponsor requested a 30% increase in the number of sites. The CDS team responded swiftly by approaching 500 - 600 new sites. They secured the necessary enrollment and were able to complete the study on time and on budget.
