Asian Clinical Trials (ACT), the clinical research service division of Suven Life Sciences, opened a new regional office at Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. The new units will be headed by Dr Hameed Allaudeen, vice president of clinical research & regulatory affairs and will be supported by Deborah Levitt Smith, executive director of business development.

According to the company, it is in addition to the existing operations from Monmouth Junction, New Jersey. Dr Allaudeen has over 20 years of drug discovery and development experience in both academia and industry. Prior to joining ACT, Dr Allaudeen worked at Pfizer Global Research and Development conducting clinical studies with both early development and full development drug candidates. At Pfizer, he has conducted studies in multiple therapeutic areas including oncology, infectious diseases and respiratory diseases. Earlier Dr Allaudeen also had his stint in GSK, US FDA and small biotech companies. He had a productive research career at Yale University. He published 43 full papers in peer-reviewed, international journals and 65 abstracts.

Smith has over 15 years of professional experience in the pharma-related industry. Before joining ACT, she was the executive director of business development for Rho Inc, a CRO based in Chapel Hill, NC. The company stated that Smith brings a diverse knowledge base to ACT that offers perspective from both the sponsor and vendor side of the business.