ClearTrial software aims to streamline clinical trials

29-Sep-2009 - Last updated on 30-Sep-2009 at 09:11 GMT

ClearTrial has expanded its eClinical offering to create “the only system in the industry” that can provide fast and accurate project tracking, management of accrued liabilities and midstream study adjustments.

The inability to create a fast, accurate and consistent framework for managing clinical trial information is regarded by ClearTrial as one of the biggest barriers to operational efficiency.

By launching ClearTrial v3.0 the company believes it has improved the situation. The main change from earlier versions is the incorporation of ClearTrial Track, a piece of software that allows users to compare projects to plans, pinpointing cost variances and underperforming trials.

Ken Getz, senior research fellow at Tufts Center, believes that sponsors’ “tighter budgets, aggressive time lines and heavy capacity constraints” mean that contract research organisations (CRO) must place a “huge premium” on effective resource planning.

The updated web-based software, which incorporates ClearTrial Plan, Source and Track, is intended to help CROs meet the increasingly stringent requirements placed on them by sponsors.

In addition to the tracking element the software package allows users to create clinical trial cost, resource and timeline forecasts and negotiate and manage outsourced studies and licensing agreements.

Details of ClearTrial Track

The company believes the ability to increase visibility of a project’s progress is a primary benefit of using ClearTrial Track. This allows users to detect budget overruns and underperforming trials and get analyses of trial trends, including time to and cost at completion.

Furthermore, this information can be used to quickly make midstream study adjustments or change orders. The software can reforecast to predict the consequences of change orders, protocol amendments and other specification changes.

Mike Soenen, CEO of ClearTrial, believes that “by linking clinical and operational data in a single, integrated system” the company is the first to give pharma and CROs “the means to effectively streamline their clinical development”.