Crown Bioscience extends deal with NEXT Oncology

US contractor Crown Bioscience has extended its partnership with Phase I cancer trial network NEXT Oncology.

Under the deal Crown will retain exclusive rights to use patient samples sourced from NEXT’s clinical trial network to provide model development services to drug firms. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

A Crown spokeswoman told Clinical Insider, “As organoids emerge as an alternative platform to PDX in preclinical oncology research, Crown Bioscience will leverage models from this partnership to maintain the world’s largest collection of PDX and organoid models among commercial providers.

“Crown Bioscience will benefit not only from the volume of models, but also from models’ relevance in addressing key unmet needs in cancer drug development,” she added.

NEXT Oncology describes itself as the largest private oncology practice in the US with more than 400 referring medical oncologists.

The firm has operations in San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, and Houston, in Texas; Arlington, Virginia; as well as units in Barcelona and Madrid in Spain.

Next Oncology is partnered with Texas Oncology, a clinical practice that is part of The US Oncology Network, which is a network of community-based oncologists.

News of the extended deal comes a few weeks after NEXT Oncology opened its seventh cancer care center in Houston, Texas. The facility will support Phase I clinical trials with a focus on cancer drug research.

Oncology expansion

Crown has been expanding its oncology business for the past few years.

The process began in 2023 with the acquisition of Hamburg, Germany-based Indivumed Services, a sample analysis and biobanking services firm that works with cancer clinics in Europe, the Americas, and Asia.

And, in August last year, the firm partnered with Clinical Trial & Consulting Services to bolster its oncology-focused consulting services.

More recently, last October, Crown expanded its facility in Singapore, introducing new oncology research models and imaging technologies.

This article was updated on May 8, 2025.

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