QUALIA CONDUCTS DRUG TRIALS WITH STYLE

Property Managed by P.J. Morgan Real Estate
Published November 17, 2006
BY DEBORAH SHANAHAN
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Omaha won out over Phoenix, Houston, Indianapolis, Baltimore and Reno, Nev., for the pharmaceutical research facility that recently opened in the Old Mill area.

Among the reasons cited by leaders of Qualia Clinical Service for choosing Omaha were its people.

For the employees they needed to hire and the volunteers they needed to recruit, Omahans appeared "just so committed, motivated and responsible," said Azhar Kalim, Qualia's vice president and general manager.

"They take the research seriously and believe they're involved in trying to make a difference for other people," he said. "The work ethic in Omaha is just phenomenal."

Committed volunteers mean fewer dropouts and more rapid completion of clinical trials, the stage of research after a drug has proved fit for human testing.

Speedy, reliable completion of such trials is valued by companies that have potential drugs in the pipeline and need to meet the demands of an aging population while also satisfying regulators seeking longer tests or trials with more participants.

More than 23,000 potential new drugs are being developed, and Qualia expects to be involved in many of those clinical trials, said Dr. Sohail Khattak, Qualia's president and chief executive.

The contract research organization will bring business from leading national and international firms, said David Brown, president and chief executive of the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce.

Qualia expects to make more than $3 million in stipend payments to volunteers in 2007.

Investors flew in from Germany, the Ukraine and Canada for an opening event Thursday that drew Brown, other local dignitaries and medical professionals.

Qualia already has a trial under way with four more planned before Christmas, and it has $4 million in pending proposals, company officials said.

Kalim said the management team has a combined 75 years of experience in the drug-testing business, and its goal is to have 90 to 100 people on staff in 12 to 18 months.

The facility "completes the puzzle" by bringing the beginning stage of drug research to Omaha, said Jim Cunningham, Qualia's director of recruiting. Later-phase studies usually are conducted by physicians, he said, and Omaha already has its share of those through its medical schools and hospitals.

Area physicians have been welcoming, Cunningham said, and help form a network from which to find volunteers with various diseases and conditions.

Most of the volunteers, however, are expected to be healthy adults who don't drink or smoke. The stipends paid - ranging from $500 to nearly $6,000, depending on the time commitment - make the trials attractive to college students, Cunningham said.

Because Qualia wants participants to leave happy so they will tell their friends about it, he said, the design of the 23,000-square-foot facility at 10845 Harney St. takes into account not only the latest in clinical features, but also the needs of participants who have a lot of down time.

In addition to offices, a call center and screening rooms, the facility has 160 beds arranged dormitory style; a lounge area with a flat-screen television, wireless Internet service, video-game consoles, board games, magazines and a pool table; and a dining room that will feature food catered by Whole Foods.

Clocks count the time in seconds, because that's how precisely the tests have to be scheduled, Cunningham said.

Exercise isn't allowed because of its effect on how the body uses drugs.

"If one person ran a mile, I'd have to make everyone run a mile," Cunningham said.

The testing facility features special refrigerators and freezers designed to quickly freeze samples so they can be shipped worldwide. Qualia also was designed to have 24/7, real-time cardiac monitoring because of recent concerns about drugs that had made it to market without a full understanding of their impact on patients' hearts.

Cunningham said an independent board in Kansas City reviews each proposed study to ensure its methods are safe and ethical. Each proposal also is reviewed internally, he said.

"We're always looking at risk versus benefit," he said. "If we feel there's any potential risk, we won't run that trial."

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