Quintiles opens local branch

By Josh Spilker

Quintiles Transnational Corp., a clinical research organization based in the Triangle, plans to open a Wilmington office in May.

This may also give CEO and Chairman Dennis Gillings work space closer to his Wrightsville Beach home.

“Our entire executive leadership team — and many members of the team have ties to the area — has recognized that the Wilmington region is becoming another center of clinical research, and we thought that our business could benefit from having an office in the area,” Gillings said by email.

The office will be located in the North State Bank building at 1411 Commonwealth Drive near the corner of Eastwood Road and Oleander Drive, according to Dick Jones, the senior director of corporate communication for Quintiles.

The offices will occupy two floors. Quintiles will initially employ 25 employees, but will grow to 30 to 50 in a year’s time. Jones said.

The area’s strong industry of clinical research organizations was the impetus for establishing an office in Wilmington.

“The Wilmington area has a large population of healthcare professionals interested in clinical research.

“It also has good educational support, such as the four-year degree program in clinical research at UNCWilmington, so it is a good location for us,” Gillings said by email.

“The work done in Wilmington will not be limited to any particular phase of drug development or therapeutic area.”

Gillings, a former professor at the University of North Carolina, started Quintiles in 1982.

The company is based in the Research Triangle, and employs more than 19,000 people worldwide with 1,500 employees in North Carolina.

Currently, there are no plans for Gillings to relocate his office permanently to the Wilmington area.

“He does a lot of traveling, it’s not to say that he won’t be there, but his office is here in the Research Triangle,” Jones said about Gillings.

The arrival of Quintiles along with PPD, AAI Pharma, Kendle, and Inclinix among others solidifies Wilmington as a force in the clinical research industry.

“It seems like we’re a cluster here, and a lot of times you’ll see that in industry,” said Connie Majure- Rhett, president of the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce.

The increasing cluster of clinical research firms has been growing steadily.

“It’s been a quiet but important fixture in our local economy for ten years or more,” said Scott Satterfield, the CEO of Wilmington Industrial Development. “They bring high quality jobs that are more or less recession proof.”

Satterfield said he expects more CRO job growth will occur with firm expansion. Earlier this year, Inclinix acquired funding to expand their facilities and resources.

“(CROs) direct their own movement based on a highly unique set of business challenges and location requirements,” Satterfield said. “We’re pleased that this is part of our portfolio, and I predict that we will continue to have strong growth in that sector, and I think a lot of CRO growth will come from expansion of firms that are already here.”

He added that Wilmington Industrial Development is actively recruiting other clinical research and marine science firms to relocate to Wilmington.