Phase Forward purchased Green Mountain Logic (GML) for $5.3 million in cash. As ClinPage wrote earlier this month, GML’s LabPas CT software helps with the management of Phase I lab samples and lab processes. Phase Forward said GML employees will continue to be based in Montpelier, Vermont; GML president John Rosenblum will become a VP at Phase Forward. The purchase gives Phase Forward an adroit way to serve contract research organizations, which have been struggling with labs and lab data in Phase I. We’ll have an exclusive report on the deal tomorrow. In the meantime, here’s the release.

When eCast Corp was founded in 1999, it wanted to bring higher quality and better technology to efficiently run clinical trials. The company created an Electronic Medical Records (EMR) in 2001, and met the criteria for certification by The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology. Raising a total of $12.5 million from investors, the company has grown substantially. Peter Bechtel, president and CEO of eCast Corp, said: “Our growth is happening faster than we expected. We expected to be in the range of 81 doctor investigators at this point and we have 480.” The company’s clinical research management services are attractive to CROs such as PPD and Quintiles because it has built what Bechtel calls “a gigantic, content rich platform of data. It helps them with their research in finding clinical trial patient candidates, trial sites, and the investigators they need.”

The FDA is trying to increase the number and quality of electronic submissions for drug applications. This is one of the goals of a five-year information technology plan to develop a more integrated, standards-based and automated regulatory e-submission and review environment. FDA will have a draft by December 31 and a final document by May 30, 2008. According to Tim Stitely, FDA’s chief information officer, the FDA needs a modernized IT infrastructure to better support scientific computing, adverse drug event reporting and analysis, facility registration and product listing, and electronic document storage.

Bridge Pharmaceuticals, a contract research organization providing preclinical drug development services in the U.S. and China, has announced the appointment of Vincent S. Lagrotteria as the new vice president, global sales and marketing. Prior to Bridge, Lagrotteria was vice president, global sales and marketing for Bilcare, a provider of drug development services in the U.S., India, and the UK. Previously, he was vice president, global business development for Charles River Laboratories.

SpineMark Corp., a medical management company, announced the appointments of Alan Donald as president of SpineMark CRO Management and Alan Iftiniuk as (interim) chief operating officer of SpineMark Corporation. In his role as president of SpineMark CRO Management, Donald will work with medical device companies and physicians within the SpineMark network to establish clinical trial programs that offer patients advanced spine care.

Have a news release? Send it to .