The technology is being used in a Phase III study sponsored by a top-ten global pharmaceutical company and will capture safety and tolerability patient-reported outcomes of a drug within a paediatric-patient population. The integrated etrials products all connect to a centralised server where the study data can be analysed and reported against for faster and more informed decision making, said the firm.

"With our software and solutions, pharmaceutical companies can deploy large scale trials utilising multiple solutions while rapidly integrating data into one central database, a critical advantage as sponsors scale their multi-site trial investigations," said John Cline, CEO of etrials Worldwide.

For each study etrials will provide training, project design and implementation services, language translation, project management, data collection, study reporting, and technical support and will also manage and maintain patient enrollment and inventory.

The use of eClinical software in clinical trials is gaining in popularity with pharmaceutical, biotechnology and contract research organisations (CROs), as these firms seeks to streamline and speed up the currently cumbersome, costly and largely manual paper-based clinical trials process.

etrials, who offers a suite of technology-based tools including electronic data capture (EDC), electronic patient diaries, IVRS and reporting, is one of a number of budding new firms in this arena experiencing rapid growth.

The firm has managed to grow its customer base to over 38, up from 23 a year ago, and is now working with over 114 clinical trials, up from 102 in 2005, and was also named on Deloitte's Technology Fast 500 List.