Cetero Research, which ran afoul of the FDA and sought bankruptcy, has been sold to an investment firm.
The contract research organization, or CRO, also has named a new chief executive officer. It also announced plans Wednesday to move to Fargo, N.D.
Cetero provides clinical trials research for pharmaceutical firms.
Freeport Financial and an investor group purchased Cetero out of bankruptcy. The deal closed Wednesday.
As part of the deal, the firm has been renamed PRACS Institute.
James Carlson, a former executive with Cetero, was named chief executive officer. Troy McCall had been CEO.
“This is an exciting time for our new company. We have a lot of work ahead of us, and we look forward to strengthening our organization and integrating service offerings,” Carlson said in a statement. “We will continue to uphold the company’s commitment to the delivery of reliable, quality data and on-time study results, as well as the safety of our study participants.”
The FDA disclosed an investigation into clinical trial related issues at Cetero last July.
Cetero filed for bankruptcy protection in March and settled with the FDA in April.
