With myriad industry efforts to accelerate study start-up times, one might think the process of hammering out contracts at the site level would now be speedier than, say, three years ago. Wrong. The trends are worsening. According to a new study by consulting, benchmarking and analytics firm KMR Group, the time it takes to get a site…more...

If clinical research were managed like a business, clinical sites would be rewarded for meeting or exceeding patient enrollment targets. But the issue is more complex for both ethical and operational reasons. Some research sites, even poorly performing ones, are appropriately coddled in the service of larger scientific or marketing objectives. And any elevation of a few…more...

As with caterpillars and butterflies, there has been a metamorphosis in attitudes to technology inside the contract research organization (CRO) industry. In the first stage, CRO representatives stood up at conferences and said, more or less: Technology? Huh? Now? Why? In the wake of an intriguing ediary partnership between Quintiles and invivodata, at least one big CRO…more...

What do life science companies produce? Medicine? Pacemakers? In truth, those items are often manufactured by anonymous subcontractors. What life science companies really do generate is intellectual property. Data. Content. Satish Tadikonda, the founder, president and CEO of Virtify, says that the content in our regulated industry will increasingly be required to adhere to a variety of…more...

The drug development industry has spun its wheels for years, trying to come up with universal metrics to measure speed and efficiency. But metrics that accurately measure quality in a trial? No one has attempted that yet. Until now. The Metrics Champion Consortium (MCC), a non-profit collaborative effort of sponsors, contract research organizations (CROs) and vendors, was…more...

Are clinical trial professionals tracking the right metrics? Do any metrics matter, given that every company has its own quirky list—and that no list corresponds to other firms in the industry? Are there any metrics that should be granted early retirement? Or should the industry be tracking more? Ken Getz, senior research fellow at the Tufts Center…more...

DSG, a provider of electronic data capture, has helped an unidentified sponsor of clinical research to integrate molecular diagnostic assays in clinical research. The news release says the company's system facilitates more immediate access to the operational aspects of trials and a 30 percent savings in management costs. SRA International won the lead supplier role on 5-year,…more...