Investigator sites accept the need for technology like electronic data capture (EDC). But they remain puzzled about why some problematic EDC solutions are selected by clinical trial sponsor firms that seem indifferent to the operational problems created by such systems. “Sponsors and CROs really need to think about this,” says Christine Pierre, CEO of the 16-year-old site…more...

Electronic data capture (EDC) systems allow sponsors to gather data electronically. In theory, that should be cheaper and faster. After a decade of gradual acceptance of the technology, all sponsors have used EDC systems and some rely on it heavily. Contract research organizations have followed suit. But what about clinical sites? Individual EDC vendors often claim that…more...

We've always thought of clinical data managers as members of what amounted to a quasi-religious order, like the Franciscans. Data managers serve as scientific priests, guiding wayward medical information back into the light, anointing and condemning clinical computer systems as appropriate. Then we got on the phone with Nagaraja Srivatsan, VP of the life science practice at…more...

In a major redesign of its flagship product for electronic data capture (EDC), Phase Forward has freshened up the user interface of one of the industry’s top packages. The changes are both cosmetic (no more red, green and yellow stoplight icons) and more structural. For fans of the stoplights, it's worth noting that some features of the…more...

Chicago-based but India-focused clinical trial management and site support organization Excel Life Sciences and Switzerland-based contract research organization (CRO) PFC Pharma Focus are launching PFC India, a full-service CRO specializing in clinical monitoring and data management services in India. The two will open an office for the new entity in New Delhi. PFC India will be a…more...

For a large fraction of the clinical trial community, clinical data standards are like 1,200-page Russian novels. People claim to read them but seldom do. For electronic data capture (EDC) supplier Nextrials, however, standards are competitive weapons to showcase its strengths. This does not mean that Nextrials is brandishing anything. The firm is too nice. And standards…more...

Let’s be as polite about this as possible. The American physician has not been keenly interested in using computers outside of a reimbursement context. Many doctors in the U.S. remain perplexed about whether computers in their exam rooms and offices are worth the investment. Some doctors feel electronic health record (EHR) systems cost them money and waste…more...

M. Denis Connaghan is the new CEO at etrials. He’s been on the job a bit more than a month, since mid-November, and had just returned from meetings with clients on the west coast when we rang him up for a chat. “I didn’t hear, ‘we need another product from you. We need another technology from you,’”…more...