Global Research Services (GRS), a contract research organization, announced the successful U.S. launch of a clinical trial management on-line training initiative in collaboration with the University of Rochester Medical Center. The web-based, interactive course entitled “Managing Clinical Trials: A Comprehensive Continuing Education Course for Health Care Professionals” focuses on providing key knowledge of managing human trials in drug development. Similar course offering will be available in China by summer 2008. (GRS and the University of Rochester are currently in negotiations with three major Chinese medical universities.) Expansion of course offerings into Eastern Europe is expected by fourth quarter 2008. “Our expertise in delivering interactive distance learning applications allows us to bring clinical trial education to the international community. On a global basis we can promote the advancement of medical discoveries and prepare nurses, physicians, and other health care professionals to pursue career paths in the clinical trials industry,” said Joanna Daeschner, director, global center for clinical research, University of Rochester, School of Nursing.

Good Products, a provider of enterprise content management solutions for the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries recently announced that it has launched g-docs electronic document management solution (eDMS). This unique new solution is designed to help life sciences organizations cope with increasingly complex regulations and growing amounts of information. G-docs will be showcased exclusively at the 20th DIA Annual EuroMeeting, March 3-5, 2008, Barcelona, Spain. It uses CoSign, a digital signature solution that allows an individual to digitally sign a document as if they were using ink.

Symbio, a New York based clinical trial management company, has joined St. Anthony Memorial in a research partnership for clinical trials of certain medications.

ICON, a contract research organization, announced it has acquired Healthcare Discoveries, a wholly owned subsidiary of Catalyst Pharma Group. Icon will make an initial cash payment of $12 million. A further installment, up to a maximum of $10 million, may be due. Healthcare Discoveries operates an 85-bed clinical pharmacology unit in San Antonio, Texas, and has significant experience delivering high quality early phase development programs. ICON chief operating officer Peter Gray, said: “It gives us a clinical pharmacology platform in the United States to complement our existing European Phase I operations.”

Veritas Medicine, a clinical trial services company, announced that it has laid off employees and has discontinued its patient recruitment services as it focuses on its clinical trial disclosure business. The company will terminate its clinical trial listing service and patient screening business. “There have been reductions of staff that were directly related to the patient recruitment business, but the clinical data disclosure team is intact. We’re focusing Veritas Medicine on the clinical data disclosure business because there is a terrific market opportunity and we are very well positioned there,” said Andrew O’Brien, Veritas’ president and CEO.

eResearchTechnology, a Philadelphia provider of electronic data capture and cardiac solutions, announced that it will release its 2007 fourth quarter results for the period ended December 31, 2007, on Tuesday, February 26, 2008.

Indian Society for Clinical Research‘s (ISCR) first annual conference was held from January 13-15, 2008. M. Venkateshwarulu, Drugs Controller General India (DCGI), spoke at length on “Indian regulatory status and unfinished agenda.” Utkarsh Palnitkar, a partner at Ernst & Young, spoke about the trends and future growth of the industry in India. He said that the rationale for relocating clinical trials to India was not cost savings, but the easy availability of subjects and the potential future market. He added that intellectual property rights and data confidentiality remain barriers.

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