SAN ANTONIO, April 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- RxTrials, Inc., and Integra Clinical Research announce a strategic partnership that will enhance their collective capacity to conduct industry-sponsored clinical research.

Under the agreement, Integra, based in San Antonio, will become an RxTrials partner research site. RxTrials is headquartered in Ellicott City, Maryland, and now has ten research sites in five states.

"We have conducted CNS research for the past 12 years," said Suzanne K. Gazda, MD, a board-certified neurologist, CEO and principal investigator with Integra. 

"We have every confidence our association with RxTrials with their experience, leadership, oversight and key relationships within the research industry will further our mission of providing a high-quality process and product," said Gazda.

"For RxTrials, the benefits are we gain a nationally recognized CNS expert, Dr. Gazda, and we add a therapeutic area, CNS," said Christine Pierre, President of RxTrials.  "Additionally, RxTrials is now positioned to offer site management services to other physicians in Texas."

Pierre and Gazda met at the Site Solutions Summit in Clearwater Beach, Florida last October and soon decided that it would be mutually beneficial to collaborate.

"In the course of comparing our operations, we discovered that we ascribe to the same beliefs on how we do business and conduct clinical trials.  Integra can come under the RxTrials umbrella yet maintain its own identity while having all the benefits of being part of a much larger and established research investigative site network," explained Pierre.

"We both believe in providing the highest quality of patient care and remain dedicated to not only our study subjects but also our sponsors," said Gazda. "Our model fits nicely with RxTrials because all the RxTrials sites are located within established clinical practices which provides an immediate pool of potential study volunteers and enhances retention dramatically – they are our patients first and our study volunteers when they decide."

For Gazda, clinical research is about the subjects and the science.  "I was a pharmacist before I became a physician, so I am very interested in the mechanisms behind the therapies and am committed to providing better therapy for patients in the future,"  said Gazda.

"We remain very committed to the industry of clinical research site management and are always looking for new sites that share our passion, commitment and attention to quality. We are thrilled Dr. Gazda and RxTrials found each other," said Pierre.

RxTrials is a network of premier Investigative Sites founded in 1994 that conduct Phase II through Phase IV and vaccine clinical research studies, based in physician practices and hospitals. Its affiliate, RxTrials Institute, provides professional training, education and consultation, and sponsors the annual Site Solutions Summit.

Integra Clinical Research an RxTrials Partner Site is a dedicated research facility aligned with Neurological Institute of San Antonio that has been conducting Phase II-IV CNS research for over a decade. With Dr. Suzanne Gazda, Integra Clinical Research has continually exceeded goals in studies with indications as varied as Alzheimer's disease to Parkinson's disease.

SOURCE RxTrials, Inc.