The North Carolina company etrials has begun its life as a public company. It will trade on the over-the-counter exchange under the ticker ETWC. In addition to raising money for the founders, the transaction with CEAC Acquisition Company, a Florida investment company, the deal will give the company a $20 million war chest to compete with Medidata, Phase Forward, Oracle Clinical and other rivals in the market niche. It’s hard to speculate how the company will use the funds: it already has one of the broader suites of products in the e-clinical landscape. But it’s possible to speculate that additional tools for clinical trial management, or drug safety management, might be developed internally or acquired by etrials with its windfall.