Kirkland, Wash. - Radiant Research Inc., a national clinical trials management company, announced today that it has acquired the clinical trials and development divisions of Protocare Inc. With the acquisition, which adds 190 experienced investigators and 260 research-dedicated personnel, Radiant now employs 1,000 investigators and site personnel with experience conducting more than 8,000 studies across 18 therapeutic areas.

Under the terms of the acquisition, Radiant purchased 13 pharmaceutical research sites from Protocare. Most notably, the acquisition adds the nation's flagship research site, The Chicago Center for Clinical Research. Another addition is Protocare's Nutrition and Metabolic Research Unit specializing in the design and conduct of nutrition and preventive cardiology studies. The acquisition increases Radiant's revenue by fifty percent and brings its capacity to more than 50 sites. Radiant also successfully completed a $39 million financing. The financing is structured as $4 million in equity from existing investors and a new $35 million senior credit facility from CapitalSource Finance LLC, a diversified commercial finance company headquartered in Chevy Chase, MD.

"The addition of Protocare to the Radiant family is a leap forward in our mission to dramatically improve the process of developing new drugs and medical devices. Protocare's expertise in the areas of obesity, preventive cardiology, psychotherapeutics and men's and women's health complements our existing expertise," said Mike Lester, Radiant's chief executive officer and president. "We're proud to offer an integrated family of the nation's most experienced clinical investigative sites."

This announcement closely follows Radiant's acquisition of Novoquest's Boca Raton and Denver research sites. It is consistent with Radiant's desire to offer the investigative site capacity to conduct entire Phase III clinical trials.

"Human clinical trials represent two-thirds of the cost and over half of the time involved in bringing a drug to market. Combining the companies provides Radiant the leverage to address the most problematic areas of clinical trial conduct: quick site identification and study initiation, rapid enrollment of qualified study participants and the collection of clean, evaluable data," said Joe Sullivan, Protocare's CEO. "Our clients may now go to one place to find more than 50 of the nation's most reliable clinical investigative sites operating under one set of standard operating procedures."

Radiant's existing executive team will remain unchanged.

Commenting on the integration, Lester noted: "Over the last five years we have developed expertise in the acquisition and integration of clinical research sites. The bulk of the integration will be executed over the next 90 days. For our clients and our study participants, this means they can expect business to continue as usual on existing studies, and can expect to have more resources and qualified investigators dedicated to executing our mission: changing the nature of clinical studies."

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About Radiant Research
Based near Seattle, Washington, Radiant Research (radiantresearch.com) is a comprehensive clinical research and development company serving the biopharmaceutical and medical device industry. Radiant is comprised of more than 30 wholly-owned premier clinical research centers nationwide, employing over 500 clinical research professionals exclusively focused on providing professional, high quality study conduct and drug development services. In the past four years, Radiant has conducted more than 8,000 clinical trials across 18 therapeutic specialties.

Contact:
Michael K. Lester Chief Executive Officer RADIANT RESEARCH (425) 468-6200	Pamela M. Spaniac Chief Financial Officer RADIANT RESEARCH (425) 468-6200