About PRA
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History
PRA started as a company under a completely different name.
In the late 1970s, the Anti-Inflammatory Drug Study Group (AIDS Group) was founded by a rheumatologist and a biomedical engineer in Charlottesville, Virginia. The rheumatologist, an investigator
at the University of Virginia, wanted to create an organization to process and analyze the data he was generating in clinical trials. The sponsor companies for those trials saw this as an
opportunity to unload some of their excess work, so within a short time, the AIDS Group was doing very little work in anti-inflammatory drugs. Because the acronym AIDS took on a new meaning in the
late 1970s, PRA International’s predecessor company, Pharmaceutical Research Associates, Inc., was founded in 1981 in Charlottesville, Virginia as a data management contract research organization
(CRO). When the rheumatologist retired in 1985, the company had six employees led thereafter by his co-founder.
In 1991, PRA expanded its services to include clinical trials management. We also established our first location in Europe.
In 1996, in recognition of our goal to be a global CRO, we changed our name to PRA International (PRA) and began to grow through a combination of internal expansion and acquisitions. By the end of
1996, PRA had 333 employees.
In 1997, PRA acquired International Medical and Technical Consultants (IMTCI), a CRO based in Lenexa, Kansas. Through this acquisition, PRA gained clinical trials leadership in allergy and
respiratory indications and a Phase I facility. The Lenexa office has grown to be a key service delivery center for PRA.
In 1999, PRA acquired Valorum (UK) Ltd, which became our service delivery center in Reading, UK. This acquisition brought a strong regulatory team and expanded PRA’s trial management footprint in
Europe. Other acquisitions between 1999–2002 included ARCAM, a Paris-based CRO, and Staticon International España SA, a Madrid-based CRO.
In 2002, PRA acquired CroMedica, a CRO headquartered in Canada with expertise in the Central Nervous System therapeutic area and a global operations footprint. Several of their offices now
represent PRA in Victoria, British Columbia; San Diego, California; Sao Paulo, Brazil, Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa; and Sydney, Australia.
In November 2004, PRA became a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ exchange. In June 2006, PRA acquired Pharma Bio-Research, an early phase clinical development and bioanalytical laboratory
company based in The Netherlands, forming the basis for the group within PRA now known as Early Development Services.
In October 2007, PRA acquired Pharmacon, a clinical research organization based in Berlin, Germany, that specializes in conducting Phase I studies with patients in several Central European
countries, it was an important step in PRA’s Early Development Services plan to further strengthen its position as an industry leader.
PRA returned to being a privately held company when it was reacquired by Genstar Capital, LLC in December 2007. Genstar had been PRA’s largest investor before the initial public offering in 2004.
At the end of 2007, PRA had approximately 3300 employees.
Page last updated:
19 June 2008
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