MPI Research And Jasper Clinical: Getting Decisions To Sponsors Faster

By Ed Miseta, Chief Editor, Clinical Leader

The Upjohn Company was founded in 1886 in Kalamazoo, MI to make friable pills, which were easily digested and could be “reduced to powder under the thumb.” In 1984, the company decided it needed an internal Phase 1 testing unit and felt Kalamazoo would be the best place to construct it. In 1995, Upjohn merged with Pharmacia. A subsequent merger in 2003 made Pharmacia a part of Pfizer. That same year, the Phase 1 testing unit became Jasper Clinic, an independent operation. In October 2014, that facility, now known as Jasper Clinical Research and Development with more than 80 staff members, became a part of the MPI Research family.

That acquisition by MPI includes the Jasper Clinic, a 50-bed clinical trial unit providing early-stage study services, including pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamics, drug interaction and methodology studies, and biomarkers. The 25,000 square-foot facility is located on the campus of Bronson Hospital and is physically connected to the hospital’s Level 1 Trauma Center.

William U. Parfet, chairman and CEO of MPI Research, believes the addition of the Jasper Clinic is an important step towards making his company a one-stop resource for life science companies focusing on early drug development. The company’s range of services now includes candidate selection in discovery, preclinical safety assessment, proof-of-distribution imaging studies (via the newly built Translational Imaging Center), and clinical trials. Parfet believes this will also serve to strengthen the collaborative relationship in place with other life science organizations in the area, including the Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine.