NEW BRUNSWICK, New Jersey, November 2 /PRNewswire/ -- In a joint statement, Czura Thornton's founders Tony Czura and Nick Thornton said: We are delighted to augment our Life Sciences Group with Clearstone Central Laboratories and the deep expertise of the people there. We intend to maintain the integrity of the operational teams and continue to invest in strengthening the company's focus on exceptional client service. Combined with our renewed focus on the consistent delivery of high quality service, flexibility and responsiveness that private ownership allows, we look forward to expanding Clearstone's market reach.

Clearstone Central Laboratories, formerly MDS Pharma Services' Central Labs business, is among the largest private Global Central Laboratory companies solely focused on clinical research and cardiac services. Through a unique network of wholly owned CAP certified laboratories, Clearstone offers central laboratory services spanning the clinical development lifecycle. With strategically placed laboratories in the Americas, Europe and Asia, all are equivalently equipped and harmonized to provide consistent, dependable results across programs, study phases and geographies.

In addition, Clearstone leverages information technology tools aligned with value add project management principles for managing global clinical trials. Each of its laboratories utilizes the company's centralized APOLLO-CLPM(TM) (Central Laboratory Protocol Manager) enabling Clearstone project management teams with real-time visibility to component and test level data. Viq Pervaaz, Vice President of Global Project Management commented, We facilitate our strong project management and data management teams with innovative technology solutions and an advanced web based protocol management system to meet the needs of our clients.

About Czura Thornton: Czura Thornton is a private investment group that was founded by Tony Czura and Nick Thornton in 2003. The group, which owns leading CRO Chiltern (www.chiltern.com), has interests in the life sciences, international trade, property and automotive sectors. In particular Messrs Czura and Thornton have extensive international experience in the laboratory and CRO sectors. For further information see www.czurathornton.com.

About Clearstone Central Laboratories: Clearstone Central Laboratories offers clinical laboratory and cardiac services solutions spanning the globe with 600 people and 6 facilities in Paris, Hamburg, Toronto, New Jersey, *Beijing and Singapore.

For further information see www.clearstonelabs.com.

*The acquisition of the China business is pending subject to receipt of required Chinese governmental approvals.

SOURCE: Clearstone Central Laboratories

CONTACT: Elan Josielewski, Clearstone Central Laboratories,+1-732-951-3250, Elan.Josielewski@clearstonelabs.com