People will still need drugs and the pharmaceutical industry won\u2019t disappear. So the demand for companies conducting clinical trials will remain.<\/p>\n
\u201cEGeen International, Inc. is a global, specialized, rapid-response contract research organization (CRO) which provides a variety of key clinical services to advance the drug development of pharmaceutical and biotech companies,\u201d explains Rauno Oja, managing director of EGeen.<\/p>\n
EGeen offers a range of clinical trial services from rapid patient recruitment, clinical trial design, management and monitoring, to regulatory affairs and data management and analysis. \u201cEGeen can help companies realize their clinical end goals in a rapid and cost-effective manner. We place particular emphasis on clinical trial rescue enrolment through rapid patient access and quicker, more personalized rapid response trial execution,\u201d Oja points out.<\/p>\n
According to Oja EGeen specializes in clinical trials of biologics, therapeutic vaccines, drug\/device combinations and various formulations of small molecule drugs. \u201cOur operational specialty areas are neurology, cardiology, oncology, psychology, urology and gastroenterology,\u201d he adds.
\n\u201cEssentially, EGeen\u2019s task is to assemble the entire clinical study. CRO offers a complete service, meaning that we are able to carry out the study from the beginning to the end \u2013 write all the protocols and documents, carry out data management and monitor that the study is carried out in accordance with GCP (good clinical practice) requirements. After carrying out the study, we write a report and present a statistical analysis, and then we can submit the application directly to the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) or EMA (European Medicines Agency),\u201d says Oja.<\/p>\n
\u201cEGeen is headquartered in Silicon Valley, USA but the company is present in several European countries, for example, the Baltics, Poland, Ukraine, Romania and Georgia, Czech Republic, Hungary. Preparedness for conducting research exists in other countries as well, for example, the Scandinavian countries, Germany and Italy as well as other Western European countries. \u201cThis kind of circle has emerged purely because of need, for example, according to the study type and the number of patients,\u201d he explains. The European operational head office is in Estonia \u2013 it provides an opportunity to combine presence, experience and price advantages with the international clinical standards required by the US or European Union.<\/p>\n
Here comes the one important difference compared to competitors: \u201cPresence in different areas allows us, first, a better understanding of clients and, second, more intensive communication on site as well as finding contacts. Presence builds confidence and easier communication helps to better understand the client and their needs,\u201d he explains. Oja also emphasises a more distinctive approach from the competitors: \u201cWe have always tried to be as effective and quick as possible for the client and have dealt with several project rescues. We have developed certain labour standards over the years and we can cope with higher working stress.\u201d<\/p>\n
EGeen\u2019s main customers generally are pharmaceutical companies in the USA, Asia and Europe. In some cases other CROs need EGeen\u2019s services. Competitors generally tend to be larger CROs that operate in several markets. \u201cThis means that selling our services to the Estonian market is quite hard if not impossible \u2013 there just aren\u2018t any drug manufacturers in Estonia. Few can be found but we are 100% export-oriented,\u201d says Oja.<\/p>\n
The number of ongoing projects is very different and may depend on the period: \u201cA few years ago, there was significant oncological and neurological research going on, the second phase of which often lasts quite long. Now we are focused on biosimilars and generics, which means that the third stage of the studies may somewhat be shorter. The company may have up to a dozen ongoing projects, depending on their complexity, duration and the number of patients involved,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n
According to Oja, for EGeen\u2019s customers, speed and efficiency speak in favour of Estonia. \u201cThe Agency of Medicines and the committee for ethics work really fast and efficiently, always ready to consult, meet and give advice. Revision deadlines of applications are fast as well. The Estonian population is small and if the study wants to include more patients, the market here alone is not enough. But the processes are among the first to be initiated in Estonia. In some cases, the local digital systems or data will be of benefit because these facilitate the inclusion in the study or its conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oja thinks that EGeen\u2019s success is shown by the companies they have collaborated with and their recommendations. \u201cWe have joined certain projects later and worked with shorter deadlines and thus under greater pressure. We have managed. Therefore I believe that competence and quick action is our greatest value. This is how we have received several recommendations and many of our customers have returned. There probably aren\u2019t many companies who can demonstrate that kind of number of successfully conducted projects,\u201d says Oja.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople need medications and the drug market is unlikely to disappear somewhere in the nearest future. So the pharmaceutical industry is always in need of companies that conduct pharmaceutical research quickly and efficiently. In relation to the increased competitiveness of Eastern Europe and the increasing role of biosimilars and generics, the need for our service has grown even more,\u201d Oja mentions.<\/p>\n
EGeen\u2019s future plan is to expand \u2013 the last year and a half has passed under the word \u201cgrowth\u201d: \u201cWe have created a strong team in Poland, Georgia, the Czech Republic and Hungary and increased our data management capabilities. We can offer our customers a full service and plan just to start realising our opportunities to the full extent,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
EGeen sees their involvement in the Connected Health Cluster as an opportunity to simplify collaboration with other countries: \u201cIt\u2019s good to keep an eye on start-ups or find solutions with already active businesses that would better cover the needs of our customers. The cluster also presents a good opportunity to put our heads together and, for example, organise joint ventures for the detection of new markets,\u201d Oja finds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
People will still need drugs and the pharmaceutical industry won\u2019t disappear. So the demand for companies conducting clinical trials will remain. \u201cEGeen International, Inc. is a global, specialized, rapid-response contract research organization (CRO) which provides a variety of key clinical services to advance the drug development of pharmaceutical and biotech companies,\u201d explains Rauno Oja, managing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":155217,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-success-story"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155216"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":155426,"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155216\/revisions\/155426"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}