Should all clinical technology systems be linked? Or can they stand apart? That is a fundamental question facing those who select and implement clinical trial technology systems in the coming era of eclinical trials. Over time, vendors like ourselves have created specific applications that power niche areas of a clinical…more...

At the end of the day, is electronic data capture (EDC) a technology? Or a service? It’s getting harder to tell. At Phase Forward, Mike Davies says the EDC company reassessed its offerings to increase their appeal to CROs. As director of sales and global CRO partnerships, Davies admits the…more...

The clinical trial technology landscape is consolidating, with firms buying each other or limping along. In that context, last month’s rebranding of the safety software of Phase Forward is interesting. To quote the press release: “Phase Forward is unifying its safety products under a new product family name—Empirica—for its suite…more...

How big do clinical trial technology firms need to be? Is there a magic size large enough to be financially strong but small enough to provide impeccable service? Last week’s $24 million purchase of electronic data capture firm Phoenix Data Systems by Bio-Imaging is an indication of companies searching for…more...

It had been a while. Years, actually. But Bruce Schatzman, president and CEO of Advanced Clinical Software (ACS) seems to be doing even better than we expected. He started the firm back in 1993. In our last conversation, published here a long time ago, he wasn’t too worried about Oracle.…more...

Is everything coming together? Apparently. As we wrote last week in this story about ClinPhone, the integration of two central clinical technologies—electronic data capture (EDC) and randomization—is in the air. Firms like Clarix, DataTrak and etrials have their own approaches, which typically involve a single database.  Almac Clinical Technologies, like…more...

We’ve always envied tabloid reporters who can cover the surgery on “Siamese” or conjoined twins. Here at ClinPage, we seldom have the opportunity to write about anything with such drama. Where the stakes are fairly high. Until now. In truth, this article concerns adolescents, not infants. For there are certain…more...

Little is known. But what’s there is tantalizing. Parexel International has offered to buy ClinPhone. ClinPhone has rebuffed the overture for now. Matters may go no farther. A merger of the two firms, now hypothetical, would change the conventional wisdom about how services and technologies should be combined in clinical…more...

Every few months, clinical trial suite Phase Forward announces that basically every key number—earnings, revenues, customer counts, the whole enchilada—has risen 20 percent or so. The company’s most recent conference call, offering quarterly and annual financial data, was no exception. ClinPage ran a new brief on a few of the…more...

I have been involved with EDC (electronic data capture) for more than two decades now. During this time, I have been exposed to a variety of systems. On occasion, I get asked what makes a good EDC system. The person asking the question is usually looking for a short list…more...