BRC lands Glaxo contract

GlaxoSmithKline Research and Development is to buy two Brain Resource Laboratories from Sydney-based brain function databasecompiler Brain Resource Company (ASX:BRC), for operation at Quintiles' Guys Drug Research Unit in London.

It's the first time that a pharmaceutical company has purchased its own Brain Resource Laboratory, BRC said -- until now, drug firms have preferred to conduct trials in one of the 20 laboratories already established around the world.

"A Brain Resource Laboratory provides a comprehensive evaluation of cognitive and brain function measures," said BRC CEO Dr Evian Gordon. By combining data about the brain previously assessed in isolation these laboratories provide a "more comprehensive assessment of how a drug affects the brain", he said.

While Gordon would not disclose the amount Glaxo paid for the laboratories, he said that they usually cost about AUD$80,000 to set up. BRC earns additional revenue by scoring the subjects' data, comparing it to the Brain Resource International Database and analysing this data at the end of the trial.

"We get out major revenue from scoring the data and analysing it," said Gordon.

The agreement with Glaxo brings BRC's cumulative pharmaceutical and treatment trial contracts on hand to more than $1.5 million. The laboratories will be set up by the end of June. An early phase drug trial investigating cognition will begin in July.