WHAT’S NEW NEW HEALTHCARE RELATED PRODUCTS, SERVICES, AND COMPANIES
In response to the growing demand for quality patient education, two top ranked healthcare divisions of Vox Medica Inc. — CoMed Communications Inc., a strategic medical education and communications company, and Signova Inc.,a healthcare public relations firm — have launched PatientMatters, a division focused on building relationships through education. PatientMatters builds on both CoMed and Sig nova’s experience in developing national, award winning awareness campaigns, educational materi als, and other patientfocused programs. “PatientMatters brings together a team of special ists in medical education, public relations, and online services,as well as experienced clinicians and medical professionals, to customize integrated services for improving patient education and healthcare,” says Brian P.Russell,R.Ph.,principal and president of CoMed Communications.“We work closely with our clients to better educate patients who have been inundated and often confused by advertising, online informa tion, and endless media coverage of health issues. ” PatientMatters offers healthcare companies a broad range of options to help them directly reach patients, including adherence and behaviormodifi cation programs,speakers bureaus,public awareness campaigns,and trainthetrainer programs. “Education helps patients and caregivers better manage diseases and builds longterm relationships for healthcare companies by improving medical out comes,” says Eve Dryer, president of Signova. “An aging and increasingly diverse patient population requires programs that address a variety of special needs, ranging from language barriers, low literacy, and cultural differences to poor health habits, lack of transportation, and difficulties with compliance.” Studies have shown that noncompliance causes 125,000 deaths annually in the U.S., and leads to 10% to 25% of hospital and nursing home admissions, and these numbers are growing. “One of the biggest problems of our current healthcare delivery system is that personalized treat menthasbecome increasingly difficult for patients to find and providers to deliver,”explains PatientMatters’ medical director Margaret Cary, M.D., and former regional director for the Department of Health and Human Services. “Concerns over healthcare quality, safety, treatment options, and product effectiveness fuel the growing need for understandable, accurate, and uptodate information about wellness and dis ease management.” Tufts Center For The Study Of Drug Development launches INSTITUTE FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT The Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development has established the Tufts CSDD Institute for Profes sional Development to provide training and education in the science of drug development for pharmaceuti cal and biotechnology career professionals. To launch the Tufts CSDD Institute, the Tufts Center also announced two professional seminars.The first, to be held Oct.16 to Oct.18 in Boston, is entitled Leading Pharmaceutical Teams: A Training Course for Project Managers and Team Leaders. Basic principles of project management to improve project leadership and efficiency, aimed at reducing time to mar ket will be presented. The second seminar, scheduled for Nov. 7 in Philadelphia, is the Senior Executive Roundtable on Optimizing R&D Performance.The program will allow senior pharmaceutical and biotechnology executives to explore cuttingedge approaches to new drug R&D and marketing. According to Tufts Center Director Kenneth I. Kaitin, the Tufts CSDD Institute fills a critical need among career professionals for advanced training and education in the rapidly evolv ing field of drug development. “Pharmaceutical developers today confront enormous competitive pressures that are only getting greater,”Mr. Kaitin says.“The rapid escalation of R&D costs and the steady decline in the time available to recoup R&D investments highlight the critical need to improve the efficiency and productivity of drug research and development.The Tufts CSDD Institute aims to help by providing the most authoritative, current information on the nature and pace of drug development.” Industry mergers, fragmenting markets, political change, price restrictions, and growing generic competition mean pharmaceutical and biotech companies must develop new drugs more quickly, according to Mr. Kaitin. “For these reasons, industry professionals need the best and most current information available on how to improve R&D performance,”he says.“And regulators and policy makers need to know how the researchbased drug industry is responding to these challenges.” Among those expected to participate in Tufts Institute courses are senior R&D executives, project leaders, managers and directors from contract research organizations and related service providers, consultants, fellows in pharmacology and clinical pharmacology, physicians, nurses, and other professionals working with the researchbased drug industry. All Tufts Institute courses are led by a faculty of distinguished experts, including professors from the nation’s leading medical schools, researchers from independent research organizations, regulatory officials, senior exec utives from leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies,and members of the Tufts Center. Vox Medica announces NEW PATIENT EDUCATION DIVISION PatientMatters offers healthcare companies a broad range of options to help themdirectly reach patients, including adherence and behaviormodification programs,speakers bureaus,public awareness campaigns,and trainthetrainer programs. Two Vox Medica healthcare companies, headed by Eve Dryer and Brian Russell, meld resources to form a new patient education division — PatientMatters. According to Tufts Center Director Kenneth I. Kaitin, the Tufts CSDD Institute fills a critical need among career professionals for advanced training and education in the rapidly evolving field of drug development. WHAT’S new 71 PharmaVOICE J u l y / Au g u s t 2 0 02 PHARMACOPY,an online marketing company,makes its debut After 13 years of working in corporate pharmaceutical agencies, Jodie Bender has said,“Enough hierarchy is enough,”and has launched Pharmacopy Inc., a company based on speed and efficiency without lengthy inter nal processes and layers of management.The result is a pharmaceutical marketing company with the ability to provide agencyquality results at about half the cost. “We’re proud to niche ourselves as a boutique pharmaceutical marketing company specializing in patient education,pullthrough programs, and salestraining materials,” Ms. Bender, founder and CEO of Pharmacopy Inc. , says. “We think it’s about time someone focused on saving pharmaceutical companies time and money instead of trying to sell them something they don’t need.” Pharmacopy offers clients one point of contact for all their needs and access to a national network of phar maceutical marketing experts. “We only hire experts,only as needed,”she says.“That’s how we do more with less and do it faster.There are no limitations to our pool of talent … specifically geography.” According to Ms. Bender, “The primary goal of our business model is to be fast and costeffective without sacrificing quality … and we have proof that it’s working. Recently, one of our pharmaceutical clients estimat ed that using Pharmacopy for certain agency projects has saved his company more than $150,000 since December in hourly fees alone.The point is, wewant to help pharmaceutical executives with what keeps them up at night instead of being the thing that keeps them up at night.” etrials Inc., a provider of technologies and ser vices for clinicaltrial data management, is paving the way to make it faster and easier to collect quantita tive patient data and qualityoflife information dur ing a clinical trial with its QuickStudy Log.The tech nology enables midstudy changes without having to redeploy the handheld devices — a first in the industry. Major pharmaceutical and biotechnology com panies are using electronic patient diary (EPD) tech nology to improve the accuracy and quality of col lected patient data in clinical trials. One of the biggest obstacles challenging these companies is deploying midstudy protocol changes without interrupting or jeopardizing the datagathering pro cess. At present, most midstudy changes in proto col, study logic, or software require the return and reprogramming of the handheld devices, a time consuming and laborintensive process. With QuickStudy Log,changes can bemade sim ply and quickly.Working closely with the etrials’tech nical service team, trial investigators can make changes to the questions posed to patients, redesign the program screens, or revamp the entire software program. Changes are automatically . Sponsors gain near realtime feedback either by accessing the handheld device or by see ing data immediately after it is synchronized; . Reporting tool allows easy creation of reports to analyze interim data; . Data are backed up in multiple ways on both the device and at the server, as well as encrypted using SSL; and . Engine allows extensive customization of study detail and reuse of templates in later studies decreasing startup time of future studies. Three top healthcare agency executives join forces to form GIANT Steven Gold and Stephen Mullens, former execu tive VPs with Harrison Wilson & Associates, and Lawrence Wolheim, cofounder and former presi dent of Lowe/BioCore, have teamed up to form Giant Creative/Strategy LLC. Giant’s focus is on providing branding, advertis ing, and innovative communications solutions for products and companies in all aspects of healthcare. With more than 50 years of combined experience building brands on the West Coast, the principals of Giant, along with their team of creative and strategic talent, bring extensive expertise to today’s health care marketers. “Giant is all about helping brands and marketers of any size maximize their true potential,” says Stephen Mullens, an agency principal. “Our clients have always turned to us to help them meet and exceed their brand goals — and we’ve got a great track record of success. Now we’re looking forward to building on that success and setting a whole new standard for delivering the biggest and the best cre ative and strategic ideas.” etrials offers ELECTRONIC PATIENT DIARYTECHNOLOGY to enable midstudy changes uploaded to the handheld device when the patient synchronizes the unit at the device cradle. “Considering the number of patients involved in diary trials, etrials’QuickStudy technology has impor tant implications for streamlining and simplifying the datacollection process,” says John Cline, presi dent of etrials. “With the unrivaled ability to easily make changes midstudy, etrials technology is rais ing the bar and setting a new standard for improv ing data quality and security. etrials’ technology is fueling the adoption rate of electronic data collec tion and electronic patient diary technology because wemake it easier and more cost effective to conduct clinical trials electronically.” QuickStudy Log runs on handheld Windows CE devices, including HP’s Jornada line and Com paq’s iPaq line, and allows investigators to review patient data dur ing a trial. QuickStudy Log is intuitive, enabling trial sponsors to offer patients the option of adding comments as well as a “help” function t o w a l k p at i e nt s through the process. Other new features of etrials’ QuickStudy Log include: . Study editor that enables rapid design of study screens, defines schedules, and imple ments basic study logic; etrials new QuickStudy Log electronic patient diary (EPD) technology (shown here on the HP Jornada) allows the patient to indicate the level of pain and intensity using “hot spot” controls. With etrials new QuickStudy Log electronic patient diary (EPD) technology, patients can point and click exactly where the pain is and indicate intensity level through color. WHAT’S new 72 J u l y / A u g u s t 2 0 0 2 PharmaVOICE Intellisphere Launches NEUROLOGY EDITION,a new specialty guide Intellisphere LLC, publishers of MD net guide, is pleased to announce the launch of The Neurology Edition, which will be published in September and November of 2002 and continue as a bimonthly publication in 2003. The Neurology Edition enables the full universe of office and hospitalbased neurol ogists to keep abreast of the rapidly expanding amount of medical information and resources avail able on the Internet. Partnership BLENDS PHARMACEUTICAL AND SPORTS MARKETING to meet growing client needs Catalyst Communications Inc., an independent healthcare marketing services agency, and Perello & Co., a sports marketing firm,are teaming up to provide sports marketing solutions to the pharmaceutical industry, a sector that is increasingly tapping into professional sports to help build brands. “As the healthcare marketplace becomesmore and more cluttered, it’s crucial for Catalyst to offer our clients options that will ensure a greater return on their investment and improved brand success,”says Rod Mehling, Catalyst’s chairman and chief operating officer.“Our alliance with Perello allows us to broaden our offering to include sports marketing services that raise awareness of health issues and solutions.” Pharmaceutical companies are more focused than ever on connecting directly with consumers to build positive associations for their brands. Tapping into the emotional equity associated with professional sports teams, leagues, and athletes has become an especially effective strategy. Among highprofile partnerships is ScheringPlough’s agreement with Major League Baseball to market Clarinex. Other examples include Pfizer’s agreements with NASCAR and driver Mark Martin and with Major League Baseball, the Texas Rangers, and Rafael Palmeiro to promote Viagra. “Perello recognizes that sports have become an essential part of the pharmaceutical marketing mix and that pharmaceutical companies seek agencies that understand how to create, activate, and leverage a market ing investment in sports,” says Marc Wasserman, the company’s managing director and a 10year healthcare marketing and publicrelations veteran. “At a time when more public relations and advertising dollars are spent on drug brands than on many household name brands, sports marketing is playing a larger role in the mechanics of pharmaceutical brand building,” Mr. Mehling says. “It’s really striking that Merck spent more to advertise its arthritis drug Vioxx than AnheuserBusch did on Budweiser during 2001.” FW Pharma Systems Opens WEST COAST OFFICE FW Pharma Systems, developers of clinical trials management systems, has announced new facilities to service West Coast customers. The San Mateo, Calif., office provides sales, product, and technical consultancy, augmenting the services sourced from the company’s Malvern, Pa.,office. With offices on both sides of the country, FW Pharma Systems employs more than 100 profes sionals dedicated to clinical research solutions, supporting more than 13,000 users world wide. “It has always been our strategy to open on the West Coast and with customers such as Chiron, Genentech, Idec, and Paragon Biomedical in the region, the busi ness case is very strong,” says Paul Tebbs, business development director. “In support of this expan sion, we have appointed David Kiger as business development manager. David has a formidable track record in new business growth.” Mr. Kiger sums up the benefits of the West Coast office: “ There is an explosion of activity in clinical trials, particularly in the biotech area, and to be able to join a global company that provides leading solutions to the market is a great opportunity. It makes strong sense to have a strat gic location at the heart of the biotech and genomics revolution and I’m delighted with the prospect of heading up this initiative.” David Kiger, business development manager, heads up FW PharmaSystems’ new West Coast office, which provides sales, product, and technical consultancy, augmenting the services sourced from the company’s Malvern, Pa., office. PDUFA REAUTHORIZATION good for American Patients HHS Secretary TommyG.Thompson has called the recently signed reauthorization of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) an important law that will begood for all American patients by providing more resources for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to review new drug applica tions in a timelier manner. “Americans deserve timely access to potentially lifesaving new drugs as soon as possible once they are proven safe and effective,” Mr. Thompson says.“This law will ensure that the FDA has the expert staff and resources to promptly review applications and get safe, effective new drugs into the hands of the people who need them.” The reauthorization of PDUFA was included in the bioterrorism legisla tion passed in May by both houses of Congress,and was signed into law by the President June 11th. “PDUFA will be stronger and more effective than ever,”says Deputy FDA Commissioner Dr. Lester M.Crawford.“With the additional resources and an enhanced ability to monitor the safety of new drugs as they enter the mar ketplace we’re taking a step forward in transforming the FDA into an even more efficient agency,while maintaining our high standards of safety.” The law’s provision authorizing the third fiveyear extension of the Pre scription Drug User Fee Act of 1992 is of great significance for the FDA’s drug review process. It maintains the high performance goals of PDUFA II, which included greatly reduced drug review times and increased and accelerated consultations between the FDA and the product sponsors. In addition, PDUFA III meets two major FDAgoals by remedying resource shortages that have affected the program in recent years. The law puts PDUFA III on a sound financial basis by authorizing the agency to collect $1.2 billion in user fees over the next five years.This enables the FDA to increase the staffing of the drug program by 450 fulltime employ ees,and improve their working conditions and training.Equally important is the authorization to spend $70 million of the user fees to increase the agency’s surveillance of the safety of drugs during the first two (or, for potentially dangerous medications,three) years on the market.It is during this initial period,when newmedicines enter in wide use,that the agency is best able to identify and counter adverse side effects that did not appear in the clinical trials. Dr. Lester M. Crawford, deputy FDA commissioner, says PDUFA will be stronger and more effective than ever. WHAT’S new 74 J u l y / A u g u s t 2 0 0 2 PharmaVOICE Chiron creates LANDMARK eIND using Liquent’s CoreDossier technology Biotechnology company Chiron has completed its first electronic investigational new drug submission using Liquent Inc.’s CoreDossier technology. Companies submit investigational new drug applications (INDs) to the FDA to receive clearance to admin ister unapproved therapeutics in human clinical trials. On average, there are many more INDs submitted to the FDA than new drug applications (NDAs),which are submitted at the time an organization has completed clin ical trials and the drug is ready to be made available to healthcare providers and patients. To date, however, fewer than 20 compa nies have completed an eIND to the FDA. Chiron chose to create its electronic submission using Core Dossier because it offered the company the necessary flexibility. “We needed to be able to access files from both a file system and a document management system to create this submission,” explains Esther Herrick, head of regulatory operations at Chiron. “With CoreDossier, we were able to efficiently access all the infor mation we needed to create one seamless dossier with advanced PDF navigation,which is critical to electronic submissions. In addi tion,the eINDhas a specific file structure that CoreDossier allowed Chiron to easily accommodate.” Adds Liquent President and CEO Rick Dool,“CoreDossier’s abil ity to access native source documents played a key role in Chi ron’s quality assurance process, which significantly reduced the time required for Chiron’s internal review and final submission to the FDA. Chiron has used CoreDossier to compile paper submis sions in the past, but this was Chiron’s first time submitting elec tronically.” The emergence of new electronic standards such as the eIND and the electronic common technical document (eCTD) present an opportunity to plan and implement companywide changes to efficiently build and submit applications that are compliant with the new electronic regulations. Organizations that have not completed electronic submissions to the FDA, EMEA, MHLW, or TPP need to plan their submission strategies and infrastructure with these emerging standards in mind. Aris Global formed to provide innovative CLINICALTRIALS MANAGEMENT Clinarium Software and Syentis Professional Services have joined forces to create Aris Global in a bid to expand their market presence.Aris Global combines Clinarium’s drug development and global regulatory com pliance software products and Syentis’professional services. “Aris Global will be a force for positive change, both for us, internally, and for our customers,” comments Deepak Abbhi,president and CEOof Aris Global.“The simplified organizational structure will provide clarity and transparency to our customers,as we evolve into market leaders.” Aris Global’s goal is to deliver missioncritical and innovative clinicaltrials management, safety surveillance, and pharmacovigilance software solutions for the pharmaceutical,biomedical, and medicaldevice industries. Simultaneously, the company will provide valueadded consulting,validation,training, system implementation, datamigration, and custom design services. The launch of Aris Global to the marketplace has been a work in progress for more than six months, utiliz ing internal focus groups and outside consultants. At the heart of Aris Global’s company mission and customerdriven strategy is a decision to focus on spe cific, fastgrowing market segments that offer growth potential and that play to its strengths of technology, a large existing customer base,and indepth industry knowledge. “Aris Global will be a dominant player in this space;we are already in alliance and comarketing negotiations with several highprofile companies to enhance our existing product line,” says Renee Page, director of global marketing at Aris Global.“This is not just a rebranding exercise or company facelift.This is an entirely new orga nization, with a new, energized enthusiasm to become a driving force for delivering innovative technology to pharmaceutical companies.” West Pharmaceutical Services introduces packaging system to COMBATDRUG COUNTERFEITING The pharmaceutical systems division of West Pharmaceutical Services Inc. has introduced the DecorationIdentificationDifferentiation, also known as the DID system, a counterfeiting pack aging protection program. Drug counterfeiting is a global crime that threat ens the safety of millions of patients. The World Health Organization estimates that fake drugs account for 10% of the global pharmaceutical trade, a share worth more than $21 billion annually. Addi tionally, the WHO estimates that 16% of counterfeit drugs contain the wrong ingredients, 17% contain incorrect amounts of ingredients, and 60% contain no active ingredients. For patients suffering from diseases such as AIDS and cancer, receiving a counterfeit pharmaceutical drug can be lethal. In underdeveloped countries, as much as 40% of pharmaceuticals are suspected of being counterfeit. West’s DID system provides a choice of coun terfeit protection features for drug product closure systems. The system applies West’s leadership and exper tise in pharmaceutical closure systems, already used by the world’s top pharmaceutical companies.Phar maceutical closure systems incorporating DID include singlepiece allaluminum seals and two and threepiece seals that combine a metal shell with a plastic button. Both the metal seal and the plastic button can incorporate the unique DID processes that include printing, embossing,and debossing. The new mold design for the plastic button pro duces a matte finish and completely unobstructed top surface. West Pharmaceutical provides the option of printing, embossing, or debossing the manufactur er’s name, logo, instructions for use, or other critical information across the top surface of the button. The nonreflective matte finish allows customers to use nonhuman readable UV ink for printing infor mation, such as lot and date coding. “Drug counterfeiting threatens public safety and undermines public confidence in the pharma ceutical industry,”says Donald E.Morel Jr., Ph.D.,CEO and president of West Pharmaceutical Services. According to Dr.Morel,the DID system,which is designed and marketed by the company’s pharma ceutical systems division, provides pharmaceutical companies with a viable solution for safe and quali tyassured drug manufacturing that protects the dif ferentiated integrity of their products. Liquent President and CEO Rick Dool says, “CoreDossier’s ability to access native source documents played a key role in Chiron’s quality assurance process, which significantly reduced the time required for Chiron’s internal review and final submission to the FDA.” WHAT’S new IMS extends scope of its PRESCRIPTIONTRACKING SOLUTION IMS Health has announced a series of enhancements to its industryleading IMS Xponent prescription track ing solution in the U.S. that will help pharmaceutical companies improve the effectiveness of their field sales forces.Xponent now offers expanded tracking capabilities for the longterm care channel, specialty retail products, and Puerto Rico. One of the industry’s most complete prescrip tion services, Xponent covers more than 70% of all prescriptions in the U.S., and uses a patented projection methodology to represent 100% coverage of all prescription activity. “As the pharmaceutical market continues to become more specialized, we are enhancing the depth and breadth of Xponent,our core sales management prescription solution,” says Hossam Sadek, IMS group director of marketing. “No other company can offer such a comprehensive view of U.S. prescription dynamics at the territory and pre scriber level, giving our clients a competitive advantage in directing their salesforce efforts for maximum results.” Through Xponent Specialty Retail,clients can better gauge prescription activities for products with limited retail availability, such as HIV drugs, antipsychotic treatments, and blood disorder drugs.Speciality products such as these represent about $19 billion in annu al pharmaceutical sales and 11%of the total U.S. market.With 24% growth in the 12month period ending January 2002,specialty products are growing faster than the total U.S.market. Xponent Puerto Rico covers all classes of trade for prescription sales in this U.S. terri tory, which represents about $1 billion in annual pharmaceutical revenue.With Xponent LongTerm Care, IMS can provide pharmaceutical companies with detailed prescription insights for the fastestgrowing nonretail segment of U.S. pharmaceutical sales. In 2001, longterm care sales rose 25.3%,accounting for a 3.3% market share. “Today, one in eight Americans is 65 years old or older and consumes 30% of prescrip tion medications,”Mr. Sadek comments. “Evolving demographics and the shift of patients with chronic and complex diseases from hospitals to the home,have sparked tremendous growth in the longterm care segment and among specialty drugs within the retail sector.” Physicians World EXPANDS DIVISION Thomson Physicians World has expanded its Advanced HealthMarket Strategies (AHS) division in response to the educational needs of evolving and emerging markets and is tailoring its core medical education programs to meet the unique learning needs of professionals responsible for balancing the demands of patient care and budgetary constraints. “Healthcare marketers who seek to educate their customers must recognize the ramifications of issues within emerging markets,”says John Clay,gen eral manager for AHS. “AHS is wellpoised to help marketers successfully compete.” AHS has assembled an experienced team with a proven track record in informational pathways for specialty markets, including managed, longterm,and transitional care models;hospitals;employer groups; and government healthcare segments. Using their experience, AHS executives can break down communication bottlenecks to disseminate important concepts about new therapies in ways physicians and other healthcare providers can under stand.The group plans programs for physicians, phar macists,nurse practitioners,physician assistants,hospi tal staff, and economic decision makers. “As the pharmaceutical market continues to become more specialized, we are enhancing the depth and breadth of Xponent, our core sales management prescription solution,” says Hossam Sadek, IMS group director of marketing. WHAT’S new 76 J u l y / A u g u s t 2 0 0 2 PharmaVOICE Cardinal Health and inChord jointly launch RXPEDITE inChord Communications Inc., one of the largest independent communication companies in the world, has joined forces with the sales andmarketing services division of Cardinal Health Inc., a leading provider of products and services to the healthcare industry, to offer sales and marketing programs to pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients. The partnership, known as Rxpedite,provides an innova tive solution for companies that maynothave substantial sales and marketing resources to dedicate to their products. Through Rxpedite, Cardi nal Health is providing sales force services while inChord is providing marketing com munications via its seven specialty communication companies. In addition, when client needs dictate a broader commercial solu tion,Cardinal Health can pro vide product development, manufacturing, packaging, and distribution services. “Many pharmaceutical companies have products with tremendous sales potential but do not have adequate resources to commercialize and market them,”says George Glatcz,senior VP of client integra tion services at inChord. “This strategic alliance with Cardinal Health gives those companies access to all of the services they need without incurring the time and expense to build them internally.” Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp. is the first client to take advantage of this partnership. Alliance has retained Cardinal Health and inChord to provide sales and marketing services for Imavist, an ultra sound imaging agent that is expected to launch in the second quarter 2002,pending FDA approval. “We’re very pleased to be working with Alliance and inChord to bring Imavist to market,” says Don Wetherhold,president of the sales and marketing ser vices division of Cardinal Health. “Through Rxpedite, Alliance and other companies like it can concentrate their efforts on product development and other core competencies, while being supported by an estab lished team of experts who can help them manage the sales,distribution,and marketing components.” inChord is providing a broad range of marketing services for Imavist through its consulting company, CHS; its advertising agency,Gerbig,Snell/Weisheimer; its interactive marketing company, Blue Diesel; its data management and analytics company, Health Process Management;and its medical education firm, S.G. Madison. ARISGLOBAL,Stamford,Conn.,combines Clinarium’s experience developing integrat ed electronic R&D and pharmacovigilance systems,with the professional consulting and services arm of Syentis,to provide an integrated solution for customers.For more information,visit arisglobal.com. CARDINALHEALTH INC.,Dublin, Ohio, is a leading provider of products and services supporting the healthcare industry. For more information,visit cardinal.com. CATALYST COMMUNICATIONS INC., South Plainfield, N.J., is an independent healthcare marketing services agency. ETRIALS INC.,Research Triangle Park,N.C., offers efficient data management prod ucts and services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for collecting, monitoring,and assessing quantitative and qualitative study data. For more infor mation,visit etrials.com. FOODANDDRUGADMINISTRATION, Rockville, Md.; the FDA’s mission is to pro mote and protect the public health by helping safe and effective products reach the market in a timely way,and monitoring products for continued safety after they are in use.For more information,visit fda.gov. FWPHARMASYSTEMS,with U.S.offices in Malvern,Pa.,and San Mateo,Calif., is an independent,global company dedicated to providing business solutions to the clinical research sector.For more information,visit fwpharma.com. GIANTCREATIVE/STRATEGY LLC,San Francisco, is a newly formed branding, advertising, and communications agency for the healthcare industry.TheWebsite soon will be available at giantsf.com. IMSHEALTH,Fairfield,Conn., is a leading provider of information solutions to the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries. For more information,visit imshealth.com. INCHORDCOMMUNICATIONS INC. , Columbus, Ohio, is a global group of com munication companies providing cus tomized marketing solutions with a single point of accountability. For more informa tion, visit inchord.com. INTELLISPHERE LLC, Plainsboro,N.J., publishes MD net guide as well as eight additional healthcare resources that integrate print and online media to review,describe,and compile resources for the particular specialty addressed by the publication. For more information,visit mdnetguide,com. LIQUENT INC., Philadelphia,provides con tent assembly, publishing,and regulatory and intellectual property information solutions for the lifesciences industry. For more information, visit liquent.com. PERELLO &CO.,NewYork,a sports marketing firm specializes in providing sports marketing solutions to the industry. PHARMACOPY INC.,Yardley,Pa.,is apharma ceutical marketing company specializing in patient education,pullthrough programs, and sales training materials.For more infor mation,visit pharmacopy.com. THOMSONPHYSICIANSWORLD,Secau cus, N.J., is a fullservice provider of medical education and communications programs.For more information,visit physiciansworld.com. TUFTS CENTER FORTHE STUDYOF DRUGDEVELOPMENT,Boston, is affiliat ed with Tufts University.Tufts is the lead ing independent source for information about the efficiency and productivity of the researchbased drug industry and the impact of government initiatives on the drugdevelopment process.For more information,visit tufts.edu/med/csdd. VOXMEDICA INC., Philadelphia, is a pri vately held,healthcare communications group,providing promotional,informa tional,educational, and strategic commu nications consulting services. For more information,visit patientmatters.com. WESTPHARMACEUTICAL SERVICES INC., Lionville,Pa., is a global drug delivery technology company that applies materials science, formulation research,and manufacturing innovation to advance the quality,therapeutic value,speed,and market availability of healthcare products.For more information,visit westpharma.com. Follow up According to Don Wetherhold, president of the sales and marketing services division of Cardinal Health, Rxpedite allows companies to concentrate on their core competencies.
