IT giant Oracle will pay $685m (€507m) for eClinical solutions firm Phase Forward, significantly expanding its presence in the billion dollar contract clinical research sector.
Integrated solutions are the future of trial data management according to Phase Forward as growth of the electronic data capture (EDC) market begins to slow.
Phase Forward is moving towards offering integrated systems to meet pharma’s need to maximise cost effectiveness and deal with upcoming EDC market saturation, according to a SVP at the company.
In Q3 Phase Forward’s revenues from CROs grew by 44 per cent year-on-year and it predicts a bright 2010, as a backlog of delayed trials are started and big pharma attempts to cut IT costs.
Hungarian drugmaker Gedeon Richter will use Phase Forward’s Clintrial software package to manage its study programmes under a deal signed late last week.
Phase Forward has adopted technologies from BMC Software to improve its operational efficiency, make “substantial cost savings” and ensure its systems maintain the availability, reliability and compliance demanded by clients.
Clinical trial software provider Phase Forward posted strong Q1 financial results, with CRO related revenues jumping by 52 per cent despite the difficulties facing companies in the sector.
eClinical specialist Phase Forward saw revenues top guidance with a 28 per cent increase to $48m in the fourth quarter of 2008, driven by growth in its InForm electronic data capture (EDC) system.
eClinical specialist Phase Forward has added to its portfolio by purchasing interactive-response technology company Clarix for $40m in cash in a move aimed at toppling ClinPhone from its leading position in the sector.
Like many of its peers in the contract clinical research sector, data management specialist Phase Forward put in another bumper financial performance in the second quarter headed by a 30 per cent hike in revenues to $41m.
Data management solutions provider Phase Forward used the recent
Drug Information Association (DIA) to unveil a new programme
tailored to help clinical research organizations (CROs) of all
sizes optimise their eClinical profitability.