Research Solutions Grew With Demand

Research Solutions has come a long way since it opened in July 1999.

“We didn’t even have a business plan written,” CEO David Jones said.

Its revenue at the end of 1999 was less than $100,000. But the next year it grew to $1.2 million, and in 2001 revenue had ballooned to $3 million.

At first, Research Solutions thought it could operate only in the Mid-South, but drug companies wanted studies done in different geographic locations.

“So one of the things that we realized is we needed to have exposure and have relationships with physicians that were willing to do clinical research in areas outside of the state of Arkansas,” Jones said.

The company began contracting with out-of-state physicians. In 2001 it bought a site in Evansville, Ind., from Hill Top Research. The company now has 49 employees in seven states.

Jones said the company hasn’t had any major problems, but it could have grown faster if the drug companies didn’t take six to nine months to pay — delays that the managers didn’t expect but have grown to understand.

“Like in any other growing business, capital is important,” Jones said. “And our receivables are higher than what we originally had hoped they would be, but it’s simply the nature of the industry.”

In 2001, Research Solutions began selling shares at $37,000 a unit to raise $2 million, according to filings with the Arkansas Securities Department.

Jones said the stock sale ended this year.

Currently, there are a lot of studies out there waiting to get started, but Jones is waiting on drug companies to push the projects forward.

“I really would have liked to have gotten started because it really would have generated a lot of revenue for us at this point,” Jones said.

Dr. Mary Good, the early Research Solutions investor, said she’s not surprised that the company has done so well.

“We knew the industry was going to do a lot of this kind of work,” she said. “We had a very good management team that we thought could take advantage of it.”