Mayo Clinic Closes Clinical Trial Unit

www.EmploymentCrossing.com The Mayo Clinic is closing its Mayo Clinical Trial Services unit due to anticipated future losses and a change in business strategy, the Rochester, Minnesota-based medical non-profit has announced. The clinical trials unit is no longer accepting new contracts, and 30 employees' jobs will end immediately. Another 27 positions will be eliminated in 2009. "The hope is that most of those folks will find new jobs either within the Department of Lab Medicine or elsewhere in Mayo Clinic," Mayo spokesperson Adam Brase said. "We're really committed to working with those folks to help them through the transition and identify opportunities and options for them." Clinical Trials Services, which started in 1991, does scientific product testing under contract for drug companies, medical device makers and other biotechnology firms. Its Web site says it has conducted more than 1,000 clinical trial studies in all major therapeutic areas. The Mayo Clinic had 31,331 employees working in Rochester at the end of 2007