IRB consolidation: Chesapeake expands services to meet growing demand
Columbia, MD-headquartered Chesapeake IRB is AAHRPP-accredited and provides institutional review board (IRB) submission and review services.
The company acquired Institutional Biosafety Corporation (IBC), a provider of institutional biosafety committee services located in Rockville, MD.
Jeff Wendel, president and CEO of Chesapeake, told Outsourcing-Pharma.com the addition of IBC’s services provides complements the Chesapeake’s existing services, and its cloud-based submission and review platform, CIRBI.
“This acquisition will help us meet the growing demand for IBC support in a user-friendly and efficient manner,” he said. “We will be utilizing members from both Chesapeake IRB’s and IBC’s boards to broaden our collective expertise.”
As Wendel explained, NIH-funded companies are required to have IBC oversight if conducting research involving recombinant or synthetic nucleic acid molecules. Research conducted at sites receiving NIH funding are also required by the same federal regulations to have such oversight.
“The use of recombinant or synthetic DNA molecules, genetic engineering and gene therapy are important and growing areas of research in clinical trials. IBC review and oversight is essential for mitigating risks to study participants and researchers for these types of trials,” he said.
Additionally, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued a policy on the use of a single institutional review board for multi-site research last year.
IBC and Chesapeake IRB will continue operating under their respective company names but as part of a fully integrated company. IBC studies will be integrated into CIRBI, Chesapeake’s cloud-based 21 CFR Part 11 compliant platform.
Chesapeake IRB has also announced the acquisition of MaGil IRB, a Rockville, MD-located central IRB.
According to the company, the acquisition provides Chesapeake with additional AAHRPP-accredited review capacity and is the company’s fifth acquisition of an AAHRPP-accredited IRB since 2013.
"Our M&A activities are focused on addressing the needs of our clients," said Wendel. "The recent acquisitions of Institutional Biosafety Corporation and MaGil IRB further enhance our position as the industry’s most flexible, responsive and accessible IRB."
"We are actively looking for investment opportunities in adjacent services and complementary technologies that will enable us to best serve our customers," he said.
