LSK Global Pharma Services, a contract research organization (CRO), said it established an academic research service (ARS) unit on Thursday.

The ARS team will provide services needed for academic research in the medical and pharmaceutical research area, including research planning, study design, data management, statistical analysis, statistical consulting, and paper publication.

The ARS unit will be headed by LSK Global PS’s managing director Kim Seon-woo.

Kim majored in biostatistics at the Oio State University in the U.S. and worked as a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, head of the Samsung Medical Center’s Medical Information Center, and a senior researcher at the Biostatistics and Clinical Epidemiology Center. He has 30 years of field experience performing various government and private medical and pharmaceutical research projects.

Through collaboration with the ARS team, researchers and research institutes can maintain the continuity of research by securing academic research personnel.

Also, with the ARS unit’s quality service for scientific performance and objectivity, research outcomes will become evidence for clinical treatment guidelines, diagnostic method development, drug development, and health policy establishment, the company said.

In the long term, the ARS unit will identify unmet research and clinical care needs and propose ideas to conduct a study alone or with a medical/pharmaceutical researcher.

The unit will also be linked with LSK Global PS’ statistics team to build a partnership with researchers and institutes in medicine and pharmacy and create an academic business model, the company added.

Lee Young-jack, CEO of LSK Global PS, said the company’s ARS unit would provide distinguished services for client-led clinical trials and investigator-initiated studies.

“The ARS unit will pursue a win-win relationship with researchers and research institutes and play a role of an ‘academic research organization’ (ARO),” he said.