eResearch Technology said it is optimistic about electronic patient reported outcomes as a business. The comments came in its recent earnings call with Wall Street. “ePRO represents a very small percentage of our revenue base now, but over the long-term, we are optimistic about the ability of ePRO to contribute to our growth prospects. Like all businesses that are relatively new, it takes some time to convert these efforts into signed contracts and subsequently into revenue,” said Michael McKelvey, president and CEO. Here’s a transcript.

The health care practice at Frost & Sullivan will hold an online briefing on the pharmaceutical/biotechnology and outsourcing markets on Thursday, August 7, 2008, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern. The briefing will focus on factors that encourage pharmaceutical outsourcing, current and future trends, challenges faced by companies and initiatives taken by some of the developing countries to provide a conducive environment for outsourcing. “The pharmaceutical outsourcing trend is expected to continue in the future,” states Frost & Sullivan analyst Somya Datta. “All process including manufacturing, R&D and clinical trials will be outsourced in huge volumes. Large pharmaceuticals and biotechnology companies will be the main drivers for this market.” To attend, send an email with all your contact information.

Summit Drug Development selected software for submission document authoring and electronic regulatory submission management from Octagon Research. “The integration of document authoring tools and electronic submission capabilities within a web-based environment is very exciting to us,” said Ellen Cooper, president and CEO at Summit. “We were looking for a solution that requires minimal IT support but offers a secure and collaborative environment in which to work with our clients. This solution provides a foundation for existing services as well as a launching point for new service offerings.” d9A2t49mkex

OmniComm Systems introduced TrialMaster eLearning, a self-paced education tool. It joins other training options that include instructor-led live training; instructor led web-based training; train-the-trainer sessions; customized training packages. One OmniComm customer, a biotechnology company, is using the eLearning tool for ten international studies at 427 sites worldwide. “eLearning gives our clients an intuitive and cost-effective method in which to train TrialMaster sites that are located all over the world,” said Ken Light, OmniComm’s senior VP of professional services.” Here’s the release.

Celera appointed Jean Amos Wilson as VP of laboratory operations. Wilson will report to Kathy Ordonez and oversee all laboratory operations at Berkeley HeartLab (BHL). “Jean is an innovative and entrepreneurial leader who has managed several commercial laboratories, while providing technical direction to the development and validation of new test methods. We are now expanding the menu of genetic tests offered through BHL and are delighted to gain access to Jean’s breadth of experience in clinical laboratory management and genetic testing,” said Kathy Ordonez, CEO of Celera.

Clinilabs, a contract research organization (CRO), collaborated with AMPS to create TrialPerfect, an AMPS database for CalECG software. The combination of TrialPerfect and CalECG offers an environment for the storage, analysis, interpretation, validation, and review of ECG traces in clinical trials. “TrialPerfect enables us to efficiently handle ECG data obtained from single-center studies to large, multicenter clinical trials. This application, along with Clinilabs’ proprietary methods, allows us to offer exceptional service at competitively low cost to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies that expect only the best,” stated Gary Zammit, Clinilabs’ president and CEO.

Mergers or acquisitions could change everything. But by 2014, European-based multinationals will take the top four spots in the pharmaceutical industry. If present sales trends continue, Evaluate Pharma predicts, Johnson & Johnson will become the world’s fifth-largest drug company. Pfizer will occupy the sixth slot, with just sixty percent of the revenues of #1 Roche. As Japan bested Detroit’s automakers, so now will London and Basel show Philadelphia how clinical development’s done. Hat tip to the Wall Street Journal.

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