NC-Based PPD Sold

North Carolina’s clinical trials industry is seeing a major shift.  The latest example is the purchase of Wilmington-based P-P-D.

Pharmaceutical Product Development or P-P-D was acquired by two private equity firms for a whopping 3-point-9-billion dollars.  It’s said to be one of the largest private equity deals of the year.  The pharmaceutical industry outsources clinical research and testing to companies like P-P-D.  Kevin Schulman is director of the Health Care Sector Management Program at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business.  He says like pharmaceutical companies – the clinical research industry is shrinking.

Kevin Schulman: "When Glaxo and SmithKline were separate, they were two separate clients for PPD.   And Pfizer and Wyeth were separate, they were two separate clients.  As those firms merged there were fewer and fewer clients for PPD to work with."

Wall Street liked the P-P-D announcement.   Shares jumped 30-percent