Metadata—information about a particular document—was one of the surprises that has come back to haunt Merck in its Vioxx mess. Information that Merck employees thought they had deleted was in fact forwarded to a leading medical journal. Now Microsoft, in a forthcoming release of its operating system, will be taking…more...

Software from TheraDoc (of Utah) and BioMetrieux (of France) is having an impressive effect on patient health. The two companies say their Stellara package, used for clinical intervention and patient monitoring, was used at Franciscan Health Systems in Tacoma, Washington. “We have experienced tremendous success with Stellara as our intelligent…more...

Does the world need more than one RFID (radio frequency identification) standard? Some in the industry think that separate schemes for every industry will lead to chaos. Some packages already have multiple bar codes. In the United States, pharmaceutical drugs have a National Drug Code. Tires have their own number.…more...

Genzyme has stopped enrolling patients in a mid-stage heart cell therapy clinical trial on a recommendation that the study has a low likelihood of success. The study’s data monitoring committee suggested the trial’s hypothesized improvement in heart function would not be likely, given a review of data so far. The…more...

IMS, a leading market research firm, says U.S. prescription drug sales grew 5.4 percent to $251.8 billion in 2005. That compares to $238.9 billion in sales in 2004. The volume of total U.S. dispensed prescriptions was up significantly over 2004, growing 4.7 percent. “The pharmaceutical market continues to experience solid…more...

DataLabs has incorporated Site Manager as an integrated addition to the company’s software platform. DataLabs’ Site Manager is advanced clinical trial management (CTM) software that enables collaborative processes to quickly identify, select and initiate investigator sites. It allows easy monitoring, administration and communication with sites. Site Manager was originally developed…more...

A small Cambridge, Mass. company is one of the first to provide solutions for Signatures and Authentication for Everyone (SAFE). SAFE is an industry effort to use software to manage the digital identities of employees. SAFE-BioPharma Association is a global identity management coalition founded by AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson…more...

PhRMA released undated figures showing $39 billion in research and development spending in 2005. That’s a 5.4 percent increase from $37 billion in 2004. “America’s research-based biopharmaceutical companies once again lead the world in investing in the hunt for new cures and treatments. It is the most research-intensive industry in…more...

IBM, Averion and Winchester Business Systems have been doing collaborative seminars linking the technologies of all three companies. As Winchester noted in a release about a recent seminar in the Boston area: “The current systems used by most organizations—individual spreadsheets and disconnected databases—cannot support the increased volume and complexity of…more...

The patient diary company invivodata appointed a new VP of worldwide operations. John Tondra will be based at corporate headquarters in Pittsburgh. He’ll take on managing the successful delivery of DiaryPRO and SitePRO, invivodata’s electronic handheld and site-based PRO data collection systems. Tondra previously worked for the video editing software…more...