Lawyers suing Merck have put together a way to lower the cost of attacking the drug company. The pre-packaged Vioxx workbook can shave the cost of suing Merck from $1 million to just $50,000. There are already 10,000 cases pending against the company, but the new arrangement could open the floodgates…more...

The Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium is conducting a survey of data standards in clinical trials. Respondents should fill out the one-page form by April 19, 2006. Among the questions being asked, one includes the very specific use of eight different formal or draft versions of CDISC standards. The Gartner Group…more...

Insightful Corp. is rolling out the beta software for S-Plus. Insightful calls the program its next major release for statistical data analysis and predictive analytics. The beta program will be conducted on S-Plus 8 Enterprise Developer and will be available until August 31, 2006. New features under consideration include: language extensions…more...

Technology to track individual genetic variation in clinical trials is being more widely used. The latest deal Illumina announced is a $7 million genotyping services agreement to support prostate cancer, with researchers funded by Cancer Research UK, a charity.Illumina’s service group will conduct whole-genome genotyping (greater than 550,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms,…more...

The post-approval market is heating up. Clinipace, of Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, announced its newest client, Medical Carbon Research Institute (MCRI). MCRI is a biomaterials and medical device manufacturer in Austin, Texas, and will use Clinipace’s clinical data capture and trial management technology, Tempo, to run a Phase IV study…more...

etrials revenue rose 7 percent, to $14 million. The company recorded a loss for the 2005 year. Among other tidbits, the latest financial statement shows that etrials paid $420,000 to settle a lawsuit with PHT, an electronic patient diary company. The company has working capital of $20 million and predicts a…more...

Afferenz, a leading Indian e-clinical software suite company, announced the appointment of David Olson and Daniel Weddle to its sales team. Olson brings more than 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and life sciences industry to his role at Afferenz focusing on pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device sponsors. Olson founded…more...

The contract research organization (CRO) Clinsys has picked DataLabs technology. Clinsys will use DataLabs tools for data management and site setup and management. “We are extremely pleased that DataLabs came into the market to provide state-of-the-art data management and clinical trial management systems at a cost that is affordable to contract…more...

Perkin Elmer announced a collaboration with George Mason University and two high profile scientists formerly in the federal government. PerkinElmer announced a five-year research agreement to develop a new and innovative approach for cancer detection and risk stratification. Scientists from both organizations will work together on the design of several new…more...

The troubled Paraxel-TeGenero clinical trial in London had some good news yesterday. Two patients hospitalized after taking a Phase I leukemia drug have been sent home. There are four other patients still hospitalized. One is in critical condition. The story is being ignored in U.S. media. In England, there are two…more...