In a seven-year deal, Wyeth selected Medidata Solutions as its enterprise-wide supplier of electronic data capture (EDC). “The deployment of EDC technology has been an extremely important initiative at Wyeth. In the past 11 months, we have increased the rate of EDC usage in trials to more than 90 percent,” said Ira Spector, VP of clinical development operations at Wyeth Research. “The implementation of Medidata Rave is critical to our ability to further increase and maximize our EDC usage while continuing to improve the overall productivity of our R&D organization.” It’s a major win for Medidata. Wyeth is transitioning away from a home-grown EDC system and leads its peer group in developing bleeding-edge technology systems and service agreements in clinical research. Here’s the release.

Another EDC supplier, Phase Forward, reported a strong quarter of financial data, widening its lead over small rivals. Revenues jumped 24 percent to $35 million. Profits rose more than 60 percent. The company says it has a stunning 50 contract research organizations (CROs) as customers. Lilly, already a Phase Forward EDC customer, bought a safety package from the company. Tufts University research-cost guru Ken Kaitin will join the board. Said Phase Forward chairman Bob Weiler: “We are very pleased with the company’s performance in the third quarter. We had a major competitive win with Asai. We won a multimillion dollar contract with Novartis Vaccines.” The company touted the new federal user fee legislation as a long-term driver of additional post-marketing trials and, by extension, technology usage. Here’s the release.

SigmaSoft International, a leading global provider of the data management software DMSys for clinical trials, has partnered with Netrics, a leading provider of intelligent database record matching software, on a new auto encoder/browser for defining MedDRA and WHODrug terms. This encoder/browser automates the coding of adverse event and concomitant medication terminology to facilitate meeting the compliance standards for pharmaceutical and medical devices in clinical trials. Steve Colville, CEO of SigmaSoft, said: “Netrics was the perfect fit, providing the best fuzzy search technology to deliver excellent results and also providing a solution that is affordable for small and mid-sized medical research companies.”

In the clinical trials process, clinical supply units are learning the use of important information derived from early development and testing to improve product quality. According to Martin Dittmer and Armin Lechler of Rockwell Automation, lately, drug developers’ eyes have opened to the advantages of applying automated technology to optimize various processes within the clinical supply chain. Since each process has different challenges, companies have implemented specialized, stand-alone systems to manage them efficiently. These include enterprise resource planning (ERP), warehouse management systems (WMS), and clinical supply management (CSM) systems. When integrated with the ERP system, the information captured by the CSM can be used throughout the enterprise. 

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