Public or private. Contract research organization (CRO) or technology vendor. If a company specialized in supporting clinical trials, we considered it. It's no surprise: Quintiles is at the head of our inaugural list of the industry's pre-eminent clinically focused outsourcing firms. Most are CROs, but we've also included a handful of leading technology companies because they are…more...

Even in 2009, in a context of clinical trials, "management" can mean just about anything. It may mean ... Karen, three cubicles away. Or a 5-year-old spreadsheet. Or a system that cost millions but sits unused. As a result, it's fair to say that clinical trial management systems (CTMS) do not enjoy a reputation for easy implementation,…more...

Is this the year for mega-mergers? Merck will buy Schering-Plough for $41 billion in cash and stock. Merck had perennially insisted it would never merge or acquire rivals. But evidently the appropriate size of the industry's largest firms is changing. Merck and Schering-Plough will have roughly $42 billion in annual revenues between them. That is approximately two-thirds…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...