Connecting diagnostic and drug development expertise around the world: Meet Claudine

As the drug development and diagnostic businesses of Labcorp strengthen their combined capabilities, Claudine Rigal, PharmD, Clinical Biologist, Head of Asia Pacific Laboratory Operations and Global Head of Anatomic Pathology Operations for Labcorp Drug Development, is excited about the opportunity to improve service delivery for biotech and pharma clients.

We recently spoke with Claudine to learn how the combined organization is supporting drug development clients on a global scale. 

Providing critical support in a rapidly growing market

“As the Asia Pacific (APAC) market is growing quickly, our work across the region helps our clients in the U.S. and Europe perform their testing here,” explained Claudine. “We can help them increase their market share in APAC.”

While Claudine’s teams are experienced in helping international pharmaceutical companies run their clinical trials in China, they also support biotech companies in a startup-like environment. 

“We are often asked to provide advice to emerging biotech companies in APAC. If we start working together at the beginning of their process, we can also provide support spanning the drug development continuum to commercialization.”

Responding to the needs of APAC clients

To find creative solutions for APAC clients, Claudine often reaches out to Labcorp’s global teams.

“One of the advantages of partnering across Labcorp is that our clients can access both drug development and diagnostic solutions. We can transfer some diagnostic tests to directly support drug development. Transferring assays rather than full assay development can help our clients save time.”  

She provided a recent example of supporting a unique study in China.

“Given that China does not usually allow the export of samples, we had to find another way to support testing for a client’s hemophilia study. We recently worked with one of our Labcorp specialty laboratories, Colorado Coagulation, to transfer very esoteric coagulation tests. Transferring the assays allowed us quickly respond to the needs of the client in China.”

Connecting clients to global testing services

Claudine and her teams are also involved in other initiatives to increase efficiencies in drug development, including:

• Anatomic Pathology and Histology (APH) services in Tokyo, Japan: Labcorp was the first drug development lab to offer APH services in Japan, and is now adding genomic testing to support clients in this market. This site will also offer end-to-end capabilities like the Labcorp sites in Singapore and China.
• Guiding a national genetic program in Singapore: Labcorp Drug Development has been asked to provide scientific expertise and guidance to the Singapore Economic Development Board as they launch their national genetic program and start to attract development from foreign companies.

To support initiatives from an operational perspective, Claudine and her teams continue to improve service delivery as they combine solutions across drug development and diagnostics and serve as more than a partner for APAC clients. 

 “It’s essential to support our clients in this market. With every project in every phase of development, we’re committed to delivering results and making a difference one milestone at a time.”