The August 13, 2007 issue of Forbes magazine says physicians are struggling to deal with complaint-oriented websites that allow patients to gripe about their doctors. Yelp and RateMDs.com are two repositories reviews of physicians. The magazine says some doctors are taking the criticism to heart; others are posting rebuttals or advertising their practices on the same sites.

INC Research, a contract research organization (CRO), entered into a partnership agreement with TheraSim to provide a web-based Clinical Performance Management (CPM) system. Training and technology will support the metrics-driven method, which is designed within INC Research’s “Trusted Process” approach. Said James T. Ogle, chief executive officer of INC Research: “Establishing competency standards and proactively training and developing high performing sites with CPM technology enables us to reduce variability when it comes to site selection. TheraSim CPM software will assist us in better measurement and improvement of the complex knowledge, skills and behavior required to manage complex, multi-site, global clinical trials.”

Michael Troullis has been appointed to the position of chief financial officer of Quintiles Transnational permanently. “Acting” was removed from his designation with a formal announcement of his promotion. He has been an acting CFO since 2006. John Ratliff, Troullis’ predecessor as CFO, was named chief operating officer.

KineMed, a pathway-based drug discovery and development company, entered into a strategic alliance with Asian contract research organization CMIC Co. Under the agreement, CMIC will seek compounds within Japanese pharmaceutical firms for in-licensing by KineMed, with a focus on metabolic disease, fibrosis and reverse cholesterol transport. CMIC will also have the option to become KineMed’s partner and co-fund clinical development for the Japanese market. “We are excited about extending the term of the collaboration with KineMed and focusing on identifying and developing drugs in areas that will address substantial unmet medical needs in metabolic disease and other key areas,” said CMIC chief executive officer Kazuo Nakamura. “We believe the greatest value lies in applying KineMed’s technology to demonstrate on-mechanism dose response for compounds which have already demonstrated human safety results. The alliance has already identified potential candidates in the Japanese market and expects to sign its first deal in 2008.”

Holmes Biopharma, a contract research organization appoints TVA Productions for launch of a national media campaign that will focus on building brand awareness for Holmes and its clinical research subsidiary Qualia Clinical Service. TVA will assist Holmes in expanding its awareness within the business community and to the general public both nationally and internationally. TVA will also focus on building name brand awareness for services offered by Qualia. The campaign includes production and nationwide distribution of a TV News Spotlight; Newsbreak; In-Flight Video; Internet Streaming Video; 10-minute Corporate Video, DVD, Trade Show Loop Presentation; a sixty second Radio News Release, professionally recorded and distributed to over 6,000 Radio stations; and 1-3 column News Features with photo and contact info distributed to 10,000 newspapers reaching an estimated 20 million readers.

Way back on August 6, the Washington Post had a long article on the death of a Chicago patient in a clinical trial of a genetically engineered drug for arthritis. The newspaper notes that the formerly public NIH review of gene therapy trials has been moved to a private FDA forum, and that there is a one-year deadline for reporting adverse events that are not believed to be linked to the study drug.

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