The Middle East medical technology industry is on the threshold of a major breakthrough with the launch of a world-first in the Philadelphia Biological and Medical Product Development Centre in Jordan, according to Peggy Farley, Managing Director of the General Partner.
She said that the Amman-based centre will be the only healthcare product development hub worldwide that will provide preclinical evaluation, full-service clinical research, core lab facilities, as well as cell engineering and culturing. Farley is also co-founder of the Ascent Medical Technology Funds, which are leveraging the financing for the centre.
“The turnkey output promised by the centre will be key to prompting the establishment of business opportunities in the medical technology industry in Middle East,” explained Farley.
“Already, international companies are seeing the possibility of substantial cost savings by transferring their analysis and testing to Ascent for conduct at the Jordan centre.”
The centre is geared to meet all of the requirements of the US FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and the European authorities for preclinical and clinical testing of innovative medical products.
Farley predicts that the centre will inspire others to focus on much-needed medical product innovation.
“As a gateway to global markets, the centre’s turnkey output and full access to research and development support will spur widespread product development initiatives, which can only be good for healthcare, worldwide.
“We feel that the time is now ripe for the medical industry in the region to achieve recognition from the global marketplace, and Jordan stacks up as the perfect host,” she said.
Farley observed that although the United States is the global leader in innovation in medical technology with 42 per cent share of the world market, Jordan has a unique advantage.
She predicts that lower research and development costs and the promise of potentially higher quality coupled with better regulation than other emerging economies, sets Jordan ahead of the game.
“The centre will work closely with associate centres of excellence that it will help establish in Jordan and other countries in the Middle East, as well as with the University of Jordan, Jordan University for Science and Technology, a number of Jordan’s hospitals and Jordan’s Royal Scientific Society,” Farley concluded.
The Ascent Technology Fund II, the main investor in the Philadelphia Biological and Medical Technology Product Development Centre, was established to bring medical technology development and manufacturing infrastructure to the Middle East.
The Ascent Group comprises companies that provide public capital market and private equity market products and services to institutions and high net individuals. Ascent Medical Technology Fund, LP is the first of the two funds dedicated to funding innovative medical device and life science companies.
Peggy A. Farley is a Managing Director of the General Partner and co-founder of the Ascent Medical Technology Funds. She is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Ascent Capital Management, Inc. Karl Groth Ph.D. is a co-founder with Farley of the Ascent Medical Technology Funds and is President and CEO of the General Partner.
Dr. Karl Groth and Peggy Farley have a long history of working together to fund innovation.
The Ascent Medical Technology Fund II, L.P. (the Fund) was established in year 2007. The Fund is dedicated to advancing medical innovation through investing in early-commercialization stage companies based in the U.S. and the Middle East that have technologies sufficiently innovative to effect dramatic changes in the treatment of serious global health issues such as cardiovascular disease and cancer.
The Fund has as a condition for investment the establishment or development by the company in which it invests, whether domiciled in the US or in the Middle East, a sustainable business in the Middle East (manufacturing facility, lab, clinical research organization, etc.) that will itself seed the emergence of a locus of medical technology activity in the Region to enable the Region to eventually compete with the U.S.
Ascent Medical Product Development Centre is the first of its kind medical centre in Jordan & is managed by the newly established company Philadelphia Biological and Medical Product Development Centre Company, PSC. It is a private shareholding company owned by the Ascent Medical Product Development Centre Inc.
The centre is one of the main four medical innovations launched by Ascent through the initial investments of the Ascent Medical Technology Fund II. Bioheart, Inc., a leader in the realm of cell therapy for heart disease, Heartland Biosciences International, a life science company and Contract Manufacturing Facility for technologically sophisticated products are other three major projects established worldwide under this fund.
The Centre is managed by the newly established company Philadelphia Biological and Medical Product Development Centre Company, PSC. It is a private shareholding company owned by the Ascent Medical Product Development Centre Inc.
