CDISC annointed Omnicare Clinical Research registered Registered Solutions Provider status. Said the company’s Mark Penniston, global VP of Biometrics: “Since our first CDISC conformant submission in early 2004, Omnicare Clinical Research has had a rich history of successful data conversions. We recognize the importance of CDISC standards and have invested in providing on-line, up-to-date training for all of our team members.”

The Wyeth award we mentioned on Friday was slashed by $100 million. After additional instructions from the judge, the jury reversed itself and cut the damages to $35 million. Because the jury is still calculating punitive damages, Wyeth is not out of the woods yet.

Contract research organization (CRO) PPD announced the appointments of Paul D. Colvin as senior vice president of clinical operations for North America and Simon J. Britton as vice president of clinical operations for Asia. “Paul Colvin brings extensive global development experience across a wide range of therapeutic areas garnered during an impressive tenure with Lilly,” said William Sharbaugh, chief operating officer of PPD. The position assumed by Mr. Britton is a new senior management role created specifically for the company’s business on that continent. With his appointment, PPD has divided its Phase II-IV operational units into four distinct territories: North America; Latin America; Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA); and Asia.

Fast Chinese recruitment of clinical trial subjects is being driven by a variety of factors, including posters and fliers in patient waiting rooms. Stefan Astrom, CEO of CRO Astrom Research International, says: “[Doctors] recruit patients from their regular patient pool. There is an abundance of patients and it’s very attractive for them to participate in trials, as they may receive new treatment, extra patient care and free medication.” Most patients do not see the same physician each time they visit a clinic; the prospect of seeing the same physician over the course of a clinical trial also adds to the possibility of more clinical trial subjects. 

South Florida’s life science industry has had a recent boost with the arrival of San Antonio-based Synergyst Research. The firm will expand its clinical trial management services to doctors in Miami, where it plans to open an office with 10 to 20 employees.

Akamai Technologies announced the general availability of the Akamai IP Application Accelerator service, the first managed service solution designed to improve the delivery of any enterprise IP-based application delivered over the web. The service optimizes the internet connection between Phase Forward‘s hosted clinical trial electronic data capture (EDC) solution and global sites. Rich Deyermond, Phase Forward vice president of global customer care, said: “Increasingly, our customers are undertaking large global clinical trials in remote areas of the world. We have successfully deployed the Akamai IP Application Accelerator on several hosted trials being accessed remotely from within developing countries.”

Multi-national CRO Pharm-Olam International will be opening an additional U.S. office in Princeton, New Jersey, in November 2007. “With the opening of our Princeton office, Pharm-Olam is even better positioned to serve the needs of pharma and biotech sponsors in the Eastern U.S.”, said Iain Gordon, VP of global business development. “Although Pharm-Olam has been known for its work in ex-U.S. markets, we are experiencing rapid growth of our U.S.-based operations and decided to open a second office to complement our headquarters in Houston.”

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