Alquest, a leading contract research organization (CRO) specializing in medical devices, announced its sponsorship of the 2008 BayBio Medical Device Breakfast Series. This series showcases up-and-coming northern California medical device companies, new technologies behind their work, as well as their pipelines of medical device products. Beginning February 12, 2008, BayBio Medical Device Breakfasts will be held on the second Tuesday of every month from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the law firm of Cooley Godward Kronish LLP, in Palo Alto.

Indian CRO GVK Biosciences and Wyeth Pharma organized an international symposium on October 5, 2007, on “New Dimensions in Organic Synthesis” at the Hyderabad International Convention Center. Leaders in chemistry presented on various topics including crystal engineering, chemical tools for the study of complex biological systems, approaches to novel chemical reactions, synergy between natural products & drug discovery and total synthesis efforts. The symposium was inaugurated by Frank Walsh, executive vice president, Wyeth Pharma. Managing director GVK BIO G. V. Sanjay Reddy, in his opening remarks said, “This is a first of its kind symposium being organized in Hyderabad in the area of organic chemistry and specifically organic synthesis. GVK BIO has taken a lead in advancing the science agenda in India by bringing together world-renowned scientists and enabling knowledge sharing.”

CRO Quintiles Transnational announced the appointment of Jay D. Norman to serve as president of its expanding Quintiles Consulting business. Quintiles Consulting’s offerings will encompass strategic product development, regulatory compliance, and pricing and reimbursement.  Said John Ratliff, Quintiles Transnational chief operating officer: “With Jay’s experience in developing consultancies, and the industry and former FDA experts we already have on staff, Quintiles is poised to expand its footprint in the consulting arena.”

etrials, a top clinical trial technology suite, and TransPerfect Translations, a leading provider of international communications services, have entered into an agreement that provides over-the-phone interpretation services to international etrials customers. The 18-month contract names TransPerfect as the sole language services provider. “This agreement ensures that our international callers can expect the same quality and speed of service as our English speaking customers,” said Art Campbell, chief information officer at etrials. “Transperfect’s services guarantee international callers are connected to a skilled and efficient interpreter who can ensure service levels are not compromised and each party’s needs are met.”

Sopheon announced that a division at University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht, the Julius Center division, has selected Sopheon’s Accolade system to support its processes for conducting clinical trials. More than 2,000 clinical trials are completed across UMC Utrecht each year; and Julius conducts or oversees a large portion of these investigations. Implementation of the system will support compliance with European good clinical practice (GCP) directives. Robert Veen, data management manager for the Julius Center, said: “Our deployment of Accolade has allowed us to take project data previously recorded and stored on isolated tools like spreadsheets, and consolidate them in a single, easily accessed repository. Accolade gives us confidence that our trials will be executed consistently and with the kind of rigorous quality control that will ensure the accuracy and reliability of their outcomes.” We just had a two-part series (here and here) on clinical data repositories, and it appears we missed Accolade.

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