Pfizer Constructing $35 Million Drug Testing Laboratory Next Door to Yale

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas) When Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) (New York, New York) was considering sites in 2002 for its new $35 million Clinical Research Unit (CRU), New Haven, Connecticut, was at the top of the list. Home to Yale University, New Haven was very attractive to Pfizer Global Research & Development (PGRD), Pfizer's discovery and development division, for a variety of reasons, including access to the imaging technology readily available at Yale-New Haven hospital.

As reported by Industrialinfo.com in August of 2003, once PGRD decided on New Haven, the architectural team of S/L/A/M Collaborative (Glastonbury, Connecticut) completed its design of the building as a state-of-the-art biomedical research center with 50 inpatient beds, as well as outpatient facilities. The unit will support the early phase development of drug candidates and, in addition to clinical facilities, will house a full service pharmacy, as well as a biomarker and clinical safety laboratory.

The testing performed at a CRU is a crucial step in drug development, and PGRD's New Haven lab will be conducting what is known as Phase 1 clinical research, which is the initial human testing of a drug. Doctors generally administer a wide range of doses at varying frequencies to a small group of healthy people in order to determine how much and how often the potential new medicines should be given. After the dosage and schedule are set, research moves on to Phase 2 testing, where the focus shifts more towards safety and effectiveness.

Typically, a volunteer test subject would stay at the center for 24 hours, enough time for researchers to take adequate blood and urine samples. The exact length of stay would depend on what was being studied. Traditionally, the majority of these research centers are located near universities and medical centers, with volunteers drawn from hospital staff or students who are in turn compensated for participating.

Whiting-Turner Construction (New Haven, Connecticut) began construction in the fall of 2003 on the 62,000 square-foot project overlooking Yale's medical school campus. The CRU will be completed and will open later this year.

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