New York City institutions are as eager as those in any other city to run clinical trials, but the competition is fierce. To help local institutions, Montefiore Medical Center, New York University School of Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, and Saint Vincents Catholic Medical Centers founded the Biomedical Research Alliance of New York (BRANY) in 1998. Each contributed $1.5 million in creating the group, whose goal is to attract pharmaceutical trials to the New York area.
So far, says BRANY CEO Eileen Hilton, the effort has paid off. Trial revenue at individual participating institutions has grown by anywhere from 10% to 100%. To date, BRANY has facilitated 699 clinical trials for clients including AstraZeneca, Pharmacia & Upjohn, Merck & Co., Sanofi, Eli Lilly and Company, Amgen, and numerous contract research organizations, and it is currently involved in 400 ongoing trials.
With...