New Electronic and Web-based Applications, Sites, and Technologies
Thomson Scientific Offers Data Platform for Researchers
Thomson Scientific has released BONDplus, an integrated, Web-based data platform designed to deliver real-time, comprehensive public and proprietary biological sequence, interaction, and patent information. The platform provides an intuitive, value-added resource for researchers by uniting the genomic, proteomic, and metabolomic research communities in one place. The subscription service provides information from more than 15 assembled resources. BONDplus also offers precomputed data sets with Blast functionality, visualization tools, and more than 80 million sequences in the public domain. “Since solutions are frequently focused on one data type or in a niche area, an integrated platform can provide a distinct competitive advantage, allowing scientists access to public domain data,as well allow them to integrate their own proprietary data and value-added Thomson Scientific data in a consistent and user-friendly format,” says Jon Brett-Harris, executive VP of pharmaceutical and chemical markets at Thomson Scientific. FCG Launches New Version of Enterprise Management Solution First Consulting Group (FCG) is offering FirstDoc 4.3, the latest version of its enterprise content management (ECM) solution for the life-sciences industry. The new version includes SPX, a Microsoft SharePoint-compatible interface to the FirstDoc ECM product suite, which improves collaboration and information sharing through a common user interface. FirstDoc SPX also offers simplified and robust IT security, enabling companies to provide external partners with controlled and specific access points to their firewall-protected repository, as well as a streamlined search capability that allows users to search across multiple repositories and view the results in a single window. FirstDoc 4.3 also includes enhanced trial master file (TMF) management capabilities with more flexible security control features. It streamlines the processing of large batches of scanned documents, as well as documents authored within the system. Other features of the new release that add efficiency include auto-naming of documents, the ability to export entire folder hierarchies, and document capture integration for the automated processing of batch imaged files. “Our clients are realizing the benefits of improving the end-user experience and the impact this has on the overall success of their ECM deployment,” says Jeff Klein, VP of global solution sales and product development for FCG’s life-sciences practice. Symfo Introduces Revised E-Diary Product Symfo has revised its flagship SymQuest e-diary product, renaming it SymQOL. SymQOL offers an improved interface that allows patients to more easily navigate through quality-of-life assessments by using the diary’s advanced branching logic features, ensuring that sponsors will receive precise, reliable measurements to better evaluate the efficacy of the drug under study. “Quality of life is becoming an indispensable outcome measure in clinical trials, by providing a more accurate evaluation of study participants’ well-being and of the benefits/side-effects that can result from medical intervention,” says Serge Bodart, Symfo’s CEO. Thomson Healthcare Provides PDR Online to Consumers Thomson Healthcare’s new Website, pdrhealth.com, offers consumers access to information from Thomson’s Physicians’ Desk Reference prescription-drug information resource. Developed for consumers, the site is based on the same information platform that Thomson Healthcare uses to create the PDR database. The site, which pairs PDR’s drug information with diagnostic tools, also addresses a wide range of healthcare questions that consumers may have, from dangerous drug interactions to suggested treatments for specific disease diagnoses. “While a Website can never replace an interaction with a healthcare professional, we believe that pdrhealth.com will become an indispensable complement to the healthcare professional/patient relationship,” says Michael Deluca, Pharm.D., strategic marketing manager, PDR. The site includes information on thousands of brand name and generic prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, and herbal supplements, including drug interactions, side effects, dosages, alternative therapies, and various treatment options associated with a particular drug protocol, as well as information on diseases and conditions searchable by diagnosis, common treatment options, and related clinical trials. Thomson Healthcare officials plan to add new tools to the site, such as a pictorial library of drugs to help identify pills and other medications. Archi-Tech Creates Longitudinal Data Solution Archi-Tech Systems Inc. has launched Dart LRx, a solution designed to help pharmaceutical companies effectively leverage longitudinal data while ensuring the protection of patient privacy. Dart LRx integrates, compresses, and indexes longitudinal data from a range of sources across multiple years and multiple measures, including NRx, TRx, volume percentage change, and market share, all without compromising patient privacy. The platform compresses these data into a single view, allowing companies to develop the most accurate and effective sales strategies possible, improve physician segmentation and sampling, and enable faster decision-making. Capabilities of the Dart LRx solutions include: • Easy analysis of prescriber habits and switching patterns. • Comparison of new-to-brand and NRx deciles and sample distribution to actual starts. • Analysis of concomitant vs. single-drug prescriptions by age, gender, and other variables. • Identification of higher-value physicians. • Definition of prescriber habits, switching patterns, and other behavior. Phase Forward Enhances Trial Management Solution Phase Forward Inc. has released InForm ITM 4.6, an updated version of its InForm Integrated Trial Management (ITM) electronic data capture solution that offers enhanced clinical data management capabilities designed to streamline workflow and improve productivity. The release contains new navigational features, customizable workflow filters, and support for Oracle Database 10g and Cognos 8 Business Intelligence. These additions, combined with centralized design, coding, and interoperability modules, provide users with a flexible, robust platform for performing key elements of electronic clinical data management. “The requirements and level of complexity within clinical trials continue to grow,” says Martin Young, Phase Forward’s VP of corporate development. “Our customers need data capture and management tools flexible enough to adapt to these changes.” Oracle Solution Streamlines Adverse Event Reporting Oracle Corp. has announced the availability of the Siebel Contact Center Integration Pack for Oracle Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS), a solution designed to help pharmaceutical companies speed up adverse-event reporting while improving data integrity and eliminating time-consuming manual processes. The integration pack, part of Oracle Application Integration Architecture, seamlessly transfers customer, product complaint, and potential adverse event information from Siebel Contact Center to Oracle AERS and, when appropriate, automatically generates reports. These capabilities help pharmaceutical and medical-device manufacturers promptly report accurate adverse event and complaint information to the appropriate safety and regulatory groups for further evaluation. The closed-loop solution also automatically loads event-related information from Siebel Contact Center into Oracle AERS and updates it to reflect changes, reducing duplicate data entry and providing life-sciences organizations with complete, accurate, and synchronized information, helping to reduce costly conflict resolution and reconciliation. Kaplan EduNeering Offers Compliance Management Solution Kaplan EduNeering has introduced DocMinder, a solution that manages and documents the relationships between life-science companies and the doctors and other consultants with whom they routinely contract. The solution enables users to establish databases to track the compliance of work performed by consultants, as well as each of the company’s financial arrangements with physicians and other consultants, including any remuneration the company pays. DocMinder automates the workflow of creating and maintaining a consulting relationship, from project authorization and consultant selection to approvals of deliverables and payment. More than a dozen compliance safeguards are integrated into DocMinder, which can trigger an alarm when a contract-specific deadline approaches or a potential violation is identified. DocMinder also can be linked with Kaplan EduNeering’s ComplianceWire. Companies Offer Solution that Thwarts Drug Counterfeiting SupplyScape Corp., Nosco Inc., and Systech International have banded together to introduce a single integrated, seamless solution that enables supply-chain partners to serialize and authenticate drugs throughout the supply chain, creating significant barriers to counterfeiting and product diversion. Together with systems integration company Hewlett-Packard Development Co. LP, the companies are offering customers a comprehensive solution framework specifically designed to streamline compliance with California’s pending requirements for pharmaceutical product serialization and electronic pedigrees (e-pedigrees). Effective Jan. 1, 2009, the California e-pedigree law requires pharma manufacturers to create unique identifiers for products, track each product’s pedigree, and maintain electronic supply-chain records. The solution provides pharmaceutical and biotech firms with the industry-standard components needed to build a complete strategy for serialization and e-pedigrees and works to check the significant revenue losses that can result from counterfeiting. The solution combines the latest 2D and radio frequency identification-enabled packaging components and systems technology with the leading e-pedigree serialization and tracking solutions, and it integrates these components within a customer’s existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications. SupplyScape contributes the e-pedigree data management system and serialization strategy, while Systech and Nosco bring their experience with serialized packaging solutions to the integrated solution framework. HP guides the architecture, ERP, and warehouse management solution integration, and project services for the solution, as well as manufacturing the digital press technology used to print the serialized label and packaging. Teradata Introduces Enterprise Data Management Services Teradata Corp. has launched a suite of eight different enterprise data management services designed to improve compliance with government regulations, reduce risks, improve data quality, and increase enterprise agility. The new suite, offered through the Teradata Professional Services organization, includes: • Modeling for architecture, data, and data warehouse services, which define the business view, architecture, logical data models, and data warehouse models for the enterprise. • Data quality services, which ensure the data in the data warehouse are complete, timely, accurate, consistent, relevant, reliable, and usable for decision-making and analysis. • Data integration services, which provide data extraction, transformation, enrichment, loading, and integration across the data warehouse. • Data security and privacy services, which define and implement data warehouse security and privacy policies. • Metadata management services, which provide an enterprise repository of metadata information, as well as an analysis of the enterprise. • Master data management services, which manage the core data assets and relationships that define enterprise operations. • Data governance services, which establish the rules, policies, procedures, roles, and responsibilities that guide overall management of an enterprise’s data. Accelrys Updates Discovery Studio Simulation SoftwarE Accelrys Inc. has released a new version of its modeling and simulation software Discovery Studio that provides a fully integrated, customizable work environment for life-science researchers. Discovery Studio 2.0 takes users from project conception to lead optimization by incorporating a diverse set of sophisticated software applications in a single, easy-to-use environment built upon Accelrys’s scientific operating platform, SciTegic Pipeline Pilot. The new version’s fragment-based design functionality enables researchers to generate novel lead compounds directly from pharmacophore models and create custom pharmacophore features through an intuitive graphical interface. In addition, Discovery Studio 2.0 includes a ligand profiler that allows researchers to screen ligands against hundreds of pharmacophore models to understand potential side effects or identify targets for co-development. HealthCentral Network Launches Drug Information Site The HealthCentral Network Inc. has established a new information Website at healthsquare.com that combines drug information with interactive tools and resources. With the launch of HealthSquare, HealthCentral extends the reach and efficacy of its network for advertisers and takes another step toward ensuring that each site in its network offers marketers the most condition-specific and deeply engaged audiences. HealthSquare provides drug news and information from reliable sources such as Harvard Health Publications, First DataBank, and Physicians Desk Reference and links this information with interactive tools and forums that give patients and caregivers opportunities to learn from experts, get lifestyle advice for dealing with specific conditions, and interact with others. “Rather than simply offer an encyclopedia of drug information online, HealthSquare is a vibrant interactive resource built around the patient,” says Chris Schroeder, CEO and president of HealthCentral. Nextrials Creates User-Friendly Interface for Prism Software Nextrials Inc. is now offering Prism Tools, an easy-to-navigate dashboard-style user interface for its Prism clinical trial management and data collection software. Prism Tools uses an intuitive Web 2.0 toolkit and the Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium’s (CDISC) Operational Data Model (ODM) standard to deliver useful data in a way that enables researchers to quickly tap into previously incompatible databases. The interface also allows information to be assembled in multimedia formats using Flash and other graphical applications to unlock the maximum value of collected clinical trial information. “Nextrials recognizes that user dashboards and formatting tools play essential roles in e-clinical trial management programs today, particularly since sponsors are looking for more independence in how they review and tabulate clinical-trial data,” says Anthony J. Costello, cofounder and VP of Nextrials. Verticals onDemand and Salesforce.com Join Forces for CRM Solution Verticals onDemand and Salesforce.com have integrated their solutions. Verticals onDemand’s VBioPharma CRM application uses Salesforce.com’s platform as a service solution — force.com. This scalable service allows developers to focus on creating applications that solve specific business issues, rather than creating the complex software and infrastructure required to run them. The force.com platform provides the necessary building blocks for creating any business application, no matter how complex, and automatically deploys it as a service to both small teams and huge enterprises. Follow up Accelrys Inc., San Diego, delivers software and service solutions that transform discovery and development research. For more information, visit accelrys.com. Archi-Tech Systems Inc., West Trenton, N.J., is a provider of solutions for instant analytics and reporting for pharmaceutical sales, marketing, and managed-care departments. For more information, visit archi-tech.com. First Consulting Group, Long Beach, Calif., provides outsourc ng, consulting, and systems integration for healthcare, pharmaceutical, and other life-sciences organizations throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. For more information, visit fcg.com. The Healthcentral Network Inc., Arlington, Va., is an online consumer health resource network. For more information, visit healthcentral.com. Hewlett-Packard Development Co., Palo Alto, Calif., provides technology solutions in printing, personal computing, software, services, and IT infrastructure. For more information, visit hp.com. Kaplan EduNeering, Princeton, N.J., part of Kaplan Inc., develops technology-enabled knowledge solutions for improving business performance and assuring regulatory compliance. For more information, visit kaplaneduneering.com. Nextrials Inc., San Ramon, Calif., develops clinical research software and services. For more information, visit nextrials.com. Nosco Inc., Waukegan, Ill., produces printed packaging for pharmaceuticals. For more information, visit nosco.com. Oracle Corp., Redwood Shores, Calif., is an enterprise software company that manages, shares, and protects information. For more information, visit oracle.com. Phase Forward Inc., Waltham, Mass., is a provider of integrated data-management solutions for clinical trials and drug safety. For more information, visit phaseforward.com. Salesforce.Com Inc., San Francisco, offers on-demand business services for companies in a wide range of industries. For more information, visit salesforce.com. Shire Plc., Hampshire, United Kingdom, is a specialty pharmaceutical company. For more information, visit shire.com. Simulations Plus Inc., Lancaster, Calif., is a developer of drug-discovery and development simulation and modeling software. For more information, visit simulations-plus.com. SupplyScape Corp., Woburn, Mass., provides supply-chain security software and expertise to safeguard the pharmaceutical supply chain. For more information, visit supplyscape.com. Symfo, Boston, is an international organization specializing in ePRO solutions, enabling study sponsors to implement electronic patient diaries in all phases of clinical trials and postmarketing studies. For more information, visit symfo.com. Systech International, Cranbury, N.J., provides packaging performance management solutions for manufacturing operations. For more information, visit systech-tips.com. Teradata, Las Vegas, is a provider of analytical applications and enterprise data warehousing services. For more information, visit teradata.com. Thomson Healthcare, part of the Thomson Corp., Philadelphia, provides decision support solutions that help organizations across the healthcare industry improve clinical and business performance. For more information, visit thomson.com. Thomson Scientific, part of the Thomson Corp., Philadelphia, provides information solutions to the worldwide research and business communities. For more information, visit thomson.com. Verticals onDemand, Pleasanton, Calif., is a privately held company that leverages the salesforce platform to deliver on-demand CRM solutions for specific industry segments. For more information, visit verticalsondemand.com.
