WILMINGTON, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PPD, Inc. (Nasdaq:PPD) has been named one of the Best Workplaces in Greater China™ by Great Place to Work®, a global authority on high-trust, high-performance workplace cultures that provides executive advisory and culture consulting services to businesses, nonprofits and government agencies. The honor builds on the announcement by PPD to adopt a new Mandarin company name in China to reflect its continuing growth in the country.
PPD has more than 20 years of local experience in the Asia-Pacific region, including extensive drug development and research capabilities in greater China. The company’s clinical operations cover China’s entire geography and population.
“This honor confirms what we have long believed – that PPD is indeed a best place to work in greater China,” said Ding Ming, Ph.D., vice president and general manager of PPD’s China operations. “Our company culture provides an open environment for employees to thrive and deliver high performance for our customers. Our workforce in greater China – which now exceeds 1,100 – has more than doubled since 2019 and our employee retention has remained high. Our engaged employees generate strong customer allegiance and offer outstanding continuity on our drug development work for customers.”
Great Place to Work evaluates the culture of organizations based on answers employees provide in response to a survey that analyzes five dimensions: respect, camaraderie, credibility, pride and fairness, as well as an audit that identifies gaps between the desired impact of programs and their actual influence to better recognize success factors that distinguish excellent workplaces. Only 38 companies in greater China were recognized in 2020 for their exemplary work environment.
Earlier this year, PPD announced it was expanding its operations and leadership team in China and would be opening a new multipurpose clinical research laboratory in Suzhou to provide enhanced clinical development, laboratory, regulatory, site conduct, patient access and post-approval services for international and China-based pharmaceutical companies. The 67,000-square-foot (6,224-square-meter) facility is expected to be fully operational in 2021, offering bioanalytical, biomarker and vaccine services to support trials across all phases of pharmaceutical development. The company anticipates adding approximately 350 positions as a result of the expansion.
Reflecting PPD’s ongoing expansion in the China drug development marketplace, the company has adopted the Mandarin name Bai Shi Yi (百时益) for its China-based business. The new name – capturing the concepts of bai (100), shi (timely) and yi (beneficial) – reflects PPD’s ambition to ensure 100% customer satisfaction, accelerate the pace of drug development and help customers deliver life-changing therapies to patients.
“PPD has deep experience in the Chinese drug development marketplace,” Ming said. “Going forward, we plan to continue to invest in the China market, expand our clinical development and laboratory offerings, and localize additional functions to cover a broader range of capabilities, while continuing to provide high-quality services for our customers in China.”
About PPD
PPD is a leading global contract research organization providing comprehensive, integrated drug development, laboratory and lifecycle management services. Our customers include pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, academic and government organizations. With offices in 46 countries and more than 25,000 professionals worldwide, PPD applies innovative technologies, therapeutic expertise and a firm commitment to quality to help customers bend the cost and time curve of drug development and optimize value in delivering life-changing therapies to improve health. For more information, visit www.ppd.com.
This news release contains forward-looking statements. These statements often include words such as “expect,” “believe,” “project,” “forecast,” “estimate,” “target” and other similar expressions. Although we believe these forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions at the time they are made, you should be aware that many factors could affect our actual financial results, and therefore actual results might differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that might materially affect such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the fragmented and highly competitive nature of the drug development services industry; changes in trends in the biopharmaceutical industry; our ability to keep pace with rapid technological changes that could make our services less competitive or obsolete; political, economic and/or regulatory influences and changes; and other factors disclosed under the “Risk Factors” section in our periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including our latest Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, which is available on our website at https://investors.ppd.com or the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. We assume no obligation and disclaim any duty to revise or update any forward-looking statements, or make any new forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.