ProTrials announced that for the third consecutive year, its revenues qualified it for both the Inc. magazine list of the 5,000 fastest growing companies—and a top women-owned business list published by the San Jose Business Journal. Said CEO Jodi Andrews: “ProTrials’ recent business success was accomplished in large part due to our repeat clients who recognized the unrivaled senior-level experience we provide them, a rarity in the clinical trial industry.”

NextDocs announced a partnership with the Thomson conglomerate's Liquent offering. NextDocs says there are new connections between its system and Liquent, "providing a comprehensive solution for managing regulatory content from authoring to publishing and submission."

An article in Slate purports to examine the legacy of black box warnings for adolescents receiving antidepressants. A confused journalist tiptoes toward criticizing the FDA for the warnings. But he fails to marshall anything—facts, research, quotations—to support the point. Whether teen suicide rates have changed is apparently unknown, as is any related causal link to the numbers of teens taking (or not taking) antidepressants. The only thing that is clear is that fewer patients of all ages are being prescribed the medications due to increased physician concern about the class of drugs.

We missed this news a week or so back. Averion is following the example of PRA International and Quintiles: it's going private. Said Averion in a release: "The purpose of the going private transaction is to reduce the costs and administrative burdens of operating a public company while at the same time allowing shareholders with small holdings in the company to immediately realize the value of their investment through their receipt of per share consideration in the amount of $.01 per share."

PPD opened a central lab in Singapore. The instruments and standards are identical to those located at the firm's central labs in Belgium, Kentucky, and China. Reports on the tests are also available in the company's unified, proprietary ConneXion and Clicks systems. Here's a release.

In its second major acquisition this month, BioClinica bought Tourtellotte Solutions of Wayland, Mass. If stock and cash incentives are added up, Tourtellotte is being acquired for a comparatively low price of roughly 1.3 times its $5 million in 2009 revenues. Tourtellotte considers itself a modern randomization system, something BioClinica already possesses. But Tourtellotte also developed some of the most mesmerizing simulation capabilities in the industry: it can dynamically predict and manage demand for drug supplies in clinical trials, allowing sponsors to anticipate and respond to shortages and overages. As various in silico scenarios about a trial unfold, the firm's software can simulate the rising and falling drug supply levels at specific depots and sites all over the world. Though it's hardly clear if adaptive trials will ever become routine in a paper-clogged industry, BioClinica is now probably one of the technology firms best positioned to assist in the design and execution of flexible protocols. Here's a release.

Have a news release? Send it to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)