New electronic and web-based applications, sites, and technologies
Ziment Unveils New Market Research Tool
Ziment has introduced an analytic technique, SequenceZ, which allows forecasters to make better use of market research by providing more accurate assessments of the effect of product launch sequence and time to market on peak market share. Ziment CEO John Tapper, Ph.D., notes that modeling order-of-entry has always been particularly challenging for market researchers, given how difficult it is for physician respondents to estimate how they will react when a product that has not yet launched enters a future market containing other products that also have not yet launched. “It is just too difficult for respondents to estimate how they will react when a product that has not yet launched," Dr. Tapper says. “Until now, no one has provided a rigorous model that explicitly accounts for the ways in which order of entry and time to market impact uptake." SequenceZ is a model based upon dynamic new-entrant parsing, a technique Ziment has developed to address this complex marketing and forecasting issue. The technique combines uptake-curve modeling and time-series analysis to estimate the impact of time on market for existing products on the share available to new entrants. Ziment’s approach combines a host of techniques for estimating uptake curves with well-formulated time-series analyses to rigorously adjust peak-share estimates to reflect order-of-entry and time on market. Ziment’s analytic technique, SequenceZ, allows forecasters to make better use of market research. Hiemstra Introduces Electronic Quality Management System Hiemstra has introduced hiQual, a state-of-the-art quality management system (QMS), which streamlines medical-device design and development, from feasibility through manufacturing. This new, electronic QMS is completely digital and compliant with ISO and U.S. FDA documentation requirements. The Hiemstra system provides solid documentation for a comprehensive regulatory submission, whether that is 510(k) or a PMA filing; frames manufacturability in a complete portable digital package for seamless manufacturing transfer; uncovers project feasibility and product development obstacles before resources and/or funding are expended; provides design capabilities to avoid unnecessary cost overruns and schedule delays; shortens timelines by addressing the design before project deliverables go critical path; and satisfies requirements for medical device development via ISO-13485 and meets all Title 21 Part 820 Code of Federal Regulations. “With hiQual, Hiemstra now offers clients a complete documentation package beginning with design and development through verification and validation and manufacturing," says Doug Hiemstra, president. The benefits of hiQual include increased productivity and improved communication by providing engineers immediate access to highly organized project documentation, says Doug Hiemstra of Hiemstra. New Wiki Covers Medical Coding and Reimbursement Codapedia is a collaborative online encyclopedia that uses the wiki online content tool to provide free, user-generated information on medical coding and reimbursement for physician services. The Website, codapedia.com, is currently available on a preview basis. In anticipation of its April 2009 launch, Codapedia is tapping into a community of knowledgeable coders and experts — “codapedists" — who will contribute non-copyrighted information to a searchable database. Codapedia was created in association with Greenbranch Publishing and Betsy Nicoletti, M.S., CPC, president and founder of Medical Practice Consulting. According to Ms. Nicoletti, Codapedia features expert articles, forums, resources, and links to definitive citations. Advertisers can pay to place banner and video ads on the site. “Coders often have very limited budgets to pay for coding resources, and yet they want to be accurate and compliant in their coding," Ms. Nicoletti says. “Codapedia will offer them two important opportunities: to share their hard-found expertise with other coders and to find knowledge that they need to do their jobs." The centerpiece of Codapedia is the feature of video advertising, says Betsy Nicoletti of Medical Practice Consulting. Follow up Greenbranch Publishing is a privately held publisher of medical practice management titles, as well as a producer of electronic media and audio conferences for physicians, practice administrators, and office practice managers. For more information, visit greenbranchmedia.com. Hiemstra Product Development is a product design and development company serving the life-sciences industry. For more information, visit hiemstra.com. Medical Practice Consulting provides physician practice management services. For more information, visit mpconsulting.org. Ziment provides customized intelligence and solutions to the worldwide healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. For more information, visit ziment.com. Cool E-Upgrades and Enhancements n Clinical-trial enrollment solutions provider Inclinix has released the next generation of its Critical Population Research (CPR) system, a proprietary technology that integrates numerous public and private databases and analyzes each investigator site for multiple criteria to identify the optimal sites for clinical trials. The latest CPR database has been expanded to include profiles on 40,000 additional investigators, now totaling more than 100,000, including thousands of international investigators. For more information, visit inclinix.com. n ScienceFirst’s newly redesigned Website supports the strategic medical communications services company’s growing business and expert services and contains special features, including an e-newsletter, employment opportunities, and work experience with notable clientele. For more information, visit science-first.com. n Simulations Plus has released ClassPharmer 4.6, the latest version of its state-of-the-art software used by pharmaceutical research scientists to analyze chemical libraries and design new molecular structures. The new version extends ClassPharmer’s data mining and molecule design capabilities to help medicinal and computational chemists with two of their most daunting drug research tasks: analyzing results from high-throughput screening experiments and then using the information gained from those experiments to design new molecules. For more information, visit simulations-plus.com. Perceptive Informatics, EuroQoL Group Provide ePRO Solution Perceptive Informatics has entered into a license agreement with the EuroQoL Group that allows Perceptive to provide EQ-5D, a standardized instrument to measure health-related quality-of-life outcomes, through its ePRO solution in an IVR format. EQ-5D is a non-disease specific instrument, making it applicable to a wide range of health conditions and treatments. The instrument allows for easy completion of required data by study participants, providing a descriptive profile and a single index value for a particular health status. Also, with 83 official language versions of EQ-5D, the instrument can be used in a wide array of geographies for global clinical programs. “The use of electronic patient reported outcomes in clinical trials has grown rapidly, especially as ePRO data, which has been increasingly accepted by regulators, has expanded beyond efficacy data to include safety, inclusion/exclusion, and medication compliance data," says Steve Kent, president of Perceptive Informatics. Perceptive’s ePRO solution in an IVR format offers an intuitive interface for capturing patient reported data, ranging from diaries and validated instruments, such as health-related quality of life questionnaires, to complex clinical assessments. EQ-5D is applicable to a wide range of health conditions. Russo Partners and Blue State Digital Create Online Healthcare Communities Russo Partners and Blue State Digital (BSD) are providing a combined service offering to help healthcare companies worldwide build and mobilize Internet communities. The alliance combines Russo’s communications expertise with BSD’s proprietary toolset and online engagement strategies to develop and implement integrated online, offline, and viral communications campaigns that drive businesses’ product marketing, business development, and fundraising initiatives. The service offering is geared for biotech, medical-technology, diagnostics, pharma, specialty pharma, healthcare services, and healthcare IT companies. Blue State Digital is a leader in online fundraising, advocacy, social networking and constituency development programs for nonprofit organizations, political candidates and causes, and corporations. The agency managed Obama for America’s extensive online fundraising, constituency building, and peer-to-peer networking initiatives, all of which helped to create momentum for the President’s successful campaign in 2008’s historic election. The company’s proprietary software — the “BSD Toolset" — as well as its online engagement strategies helped to create an unprecedented online campaign. The alliance combines Russo’s communications expertise with BSD’s proprietary toolset and online engagement strategies. Follow up Blue State Digital LLC provides online fundraising, advocacy, social networking, and constituency development programs for nonprofit organizations, political candidates and causes, and corporations. For more information, visit bluestatedigital.com. EuroQoL Group is a network of international, multilingual, multidisciplinary researchers who collaborated in the development of EQ-5D. For more information, visit euroqol.org. Perceptive Informatics, a subsidiary of Parexel International Corp., provides e-clinical solutions to the life-sciences industry. For more information, visit perceptive.com. Russo Partners LLC provides healthcare communications services. For more information, visit russopartnersllc.com.