Phase forward providing new CRO support

The new CRO Advantage Program includes a range of new software technology support options, based around the level of pricing, sales and marketing and training required by the CRO.

As the eClinical market is maturing and biopharma company outsourcing continues to evolve, CROs are becoming critical to the success of clinical trials - not only as an external trial manager but also because each CRO brings with it specific expertise in clinical data solutions, geographical coverage and therapeutic specialisation.

"The new programme is designed specifically to meet the needs of CROs across a wide variety of geographies, market segments and adoption models," said the firm.

World leading CRO Quintiles, whose core competency is conducting global clinical trials, is already benefiting from the programme.

"In general, trials are becoming larger and more complex, and are touching more regions; therefore our clients require sophisticated, global capabilities." said Paula Brown Stafford, executive vice president, Global Data Management at Quintiles.

"Partnering with Phase Forward has added to our ability to run safe, efficient trials including the collection and management of quality patient data - and in the end help pharma companies get drugs to market sooner."

On the other hand, smaller firms are offered the use of technology in clinical development at a price they can afford.

"We remain a relatively small company by design. That said, partnering with a company like Phase Forward is key to that design," said Irving Dark, vice president, business development and operations, Veristat.

"It allows us to match our consulting services and areas of experience to the most appropriate set of clients, and to bring to them the value proposition of electronic data capture (EDC) without the expense of additional resources."