Industry legend Paul Bleicher will soon step down from daily responsibilities at Phase Forward. The Boston-area electronic data capture company Bleicher co-founded in 1997 pioneered software and services for the largest sponsor companies in the industry, forging long-term deals with Lilly and GSK that attracted other customers. Phase Forward today has a commanding $150 million in annual revenue and a market capitalization of roughly $900 million, dwarfing most competitors. “Our position in the market today underscores his success in implementing his vision for dramatically optimizing the process by which pharmaceutical companies bring drugs to market,” said Bob Weiler, president and CEO. “Paul leaves us in an excellent position to continue to lead the market’s accelerated adoption of technology solutions for the life sciences industry. We wish Paul the best, confident he will meet with similar success in his future endeavors and pleased to have his continued guidance as a member of our board.”

Accelerated Community Oncology Research Network, a national oncology-focused contract research organization (CRO), appointed Tara Webb to be senior director of business development. Said Edward Stepanski, the company’s COO: “Her responsibilities at ACORN CRO will include presenting ACORN’s capabilities to pharmaceutical companies and emerging biotechs, forging alliances with key accounts and providing customer service oversight on behalf of clients.” Here’s the statement.

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Encorium Group got a letter from Nasdaq stating that it no longer complies with Nasdaq’s independent director and audit committee requirements. Encorium must submit documentation, including biographies of any new directors. Here’s the release.

Matthew Wiener, CEO of Pharmatech, has been awarded the Outstanding Cancer Leadership Award from the Colorado Cancer Coalition. The award is being presented to Wiener for his development of the Just-In-Time (JIT) enrollment methodology for cancer trials. Wiener will accept his award on October 6th, at the St. Mary’s Cancer Center, which will take place during the Colorado Cancer Summit. “It is a high honor to receive such a distinguished award from the Colorado Cancer Coalition,” Wiener said. “Their recognition of our JIT program gives the program clout within the pharmaceutical and bioscience industries.” Here’s the release.

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InnoCentive and Collaborative Drug Discovery (CCD) have partnered to offer InnoCentive solvers access to web-based software to aid in solving scientific challenges. InnoCentive will offer links to the CCD website from specific scientific challenges; InnoCentive solvers will have the opportunity to collaborate on challenges with Collaborative Drug Discovery users, who can organize complex research data and collaborate within multiple research groups. “By offering our solution to InnoCentive’s active community, we are giving InnoCentive solvers the resources they need to develop cost effective, efficient solutions that will benefit seekers,” said Barry Bunin, CEO and president, Collaborative Drug Discovery.

PPD completed the acquisition of InnoPharm, an independent contract research organization based in Smolensk, Russia. It will continue to offer Phase II-IV clinical trial support, data management and biostatistics in Eastern Europe. In addition to Smolensk, PPD has added offices in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia, and Kiev, Ukraine, with the acquisition. One of the first CROs in Russia, InnoPharm was a leader in the implementation of good clinical practice (GCP) in Russia and Ukraine. “The number of clinical trials approved in Russia has nearly doubled over the past six years as the country continues to emerge as a high-growth market for clinical research,” said Fred Eshelman, CEO of PPD. “Acquiring InnoPharm strengthens our presence in Russia and Ukraine and will serve as the foundation for continued growth in a region we have targeted for expansion.”

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