Infotrieve Introduces New Search and Discovery Tool The LSRC employs a radically different approach to discovery, evolving the traditional use of content from a “find-and-review” approach to a unique “search-discover-and-create” approach capable of delivering dramatic improvements in research processes and outcomes, says Wes Crews, President and CEO of Infotrieve. Infotrieve Inc. has launched the Life Science Research Center (LSRC), a Web-based search and discovery research environment. The LSRC provides a robust user interface to search diverse types of scientific, technical, and medical (STM) information and to identify relationships across traditionally disparate content sources. The LSRC uses full-text searching of preprocessed scientific, technical, and medical content, such as literature, patents, drug pipeline data, genes, technical protocols, laboratory products, and industry news. Additionally, the tool allows for secure meta searching of external and internal corporate data sources; personalization for individuals and collaborative workgroups; and a multitude of robust search capabilities. The LSRC is the most recent addition to Infotrieve’s emerging electronic research platform, which increases the value of organizational content and facilitates scientists’ daily workflows by integrating links from electronic laboratory notebooks to discovery tools, literature and scientific data, laboratory product information, and integrated retrieval capabilities for literature and laboratory products. “Infotrieve’s Life Science Research Center will have an immediate positive impact in simplifying the search process and improving productivity for pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and other life-science-related researchers,” says Wes Crews, president and CEO. New Electronic Lab Notebook For Life-Sciences Research From Elsevier MDL In response to industry and customer demand, Elsevier MDL is developing a dedicated, phased program to build a robust, scalable, enterprise-strength electronic laboratory notebook (ELN) for the life-sciences industry, built on MDL Isentris technology, for delivery in 2006. “Elsevier MDL pioneered the first all-electronic laboratory notebook more than a decade ago and is today a leader in the development and deployment of advanced ELN systems that combine the best features of paper notebooks with robust electronic data handling capabilities,” says Lars Barfod, CEO of Elsevier MDL. “A new generation ELN that satisfies both intellectual property and regulatory requirements is a unifying application that will significantly reduce cycle time in biopharmaceutical R&D.” Biopharma researchers engaged in experiment planning and data capture/analysis supporting parallel synthesis, single- and multistep reactions and other complex processes are increasingly demanding an electronic laboratory data capture, report generation, auditing, tracking, and storage solution that supports FDA- and OSHA-mandated Good Manufacturing and Good Laboratory Practices, as well as 21 CFR Part 11 compliance. An integrated ELN system offers many productivity benefits, including streamlining workflows, automating repetitive tasks, documenting discovery history for patent disclosure and defense, and leveraging past work. In addition, according to Elsevier MDL officials, an integrated ELN ensures that information captured in the system can benefit everyone in an R&D organization. Choice Media Launches Pay-Per-Click Advertising Subsidiary Choice Media has launched a new subsidiary, called GoText Inc., a pay-per-click service for advertisers. GoText provides space for advertisers, even those with small promotional budgets on some of the world’s largest healthcare-only Websites — such as drkoop.com, healthcentral.com, healthscout.com, healthsquare.com, heartinfo.org, or mdchoice.com — that reach millions of health-focused consumers actively seeking medical information. Pay-per-click is one of the hottest trends in Internet marketing, whereby advertisers pay only for the number of visits or “clicks” generated by each ad, making the text messages cost-effective and virtually guaranteed to produce a return on investment. GoText builds on the trend by allowing advertisers to bid on keywords, such as medical conditions, to get the top listings under specific contextual links. This also offers advertisers a unique, health-focused alternative to search engine keyword buys on general interest Websites, such as Google and Overture. The launch of GoText comes on the heels of Choice Media’s recent acquisitions of drkoop.com, healthsquare.com, and drdrew.com. “As a self-service, performance-based vehicle, GoText allows advertisers to set their own budgets, monitor clicks, and even change the keywords or health zones, all with the click of a mouse,” explains Allen Baum, VP of GoText. “We’ve removed any risk to the advertiser,” says Ash Nashed, M.D., CEO and president of Choice Media. Dr. Nashed adds that by using the Choice Media network, advertisers can be seen in a variety of ways within the same objective environment. As a self-service, performance-based vehicle, GoText allows advertisers to set their own budgets, monitor clicks, and even change the keywords or health zones, all with the click of a mouse, says Allen Baum, VP of GoText. Sigma-Aldrich Releases New Online Assay Library The Assay Library provides the largest commercial compendium of enzymatic assay procedures available online to date. After more than 10 years of in-house process development, Sigma-Aldrich Corp. has launched an online Assay Library, featuring more than 600 detailed procedures for measuring enzyme activity and related metabolites. The new Assay Library is available through Sigma-Aldrich’s Enzyme Explorer, which provides researchers free, in-depth resources on protein research, including new metabolic pathway animations. “The Assay Library provides the largest commercial compendium of enzymatic assay procedures available online to date,” says Robert Gates, product manager at Sigma-Aldrich. “Researchers should find this tool useful in many areas of biomedical research, including drug discovery, metabolic processes, and disease studies.” Thomson Delivers End-to-End Product Labeling Solution In response to the FDA’s new labeling requirements, Thomson Scientific and Healthcare offers solutions to help life-sciences companies convert existing labeling to the structured product labeling (SPL) format, produce new labeling in SPL format, and manage the information at a much greater level of detail. By the end of this year, the FDA wants to receive prescription product labeling electronically in XML format to help improve patient safety. Thomson enables pharmaceutical companies to comply with the new regulations by offering outsourced label conversion through Liquent Direct and transformation and life-cycle management technology via the Liquent InSight manager for labeling. With the Liquent solution, a team of regulatory experts using proprietary technologies can quickly convert labels into the standard format. Once converted and checked for accuracy, companies can then go through their normal quality assurance and approval cycles. Thomson PDR then helps life-sciences companies get the labeling into the hands of clinicians and the general public. For the past six decades, PDR has provided services for delivering labeling information to the pharmaceutical industry; and over the past several years, the company has been actively involved with the FDA and the industry in the development and implementation of SPL standards. By leveraging the Liquent conversion solutions with PDR’s industry reach, Thomson ensures the life-sciences industry has direct access to the necessary tools to comply with FDA labeling standards. Our clients are acutely aware of the challenges they face by having to convert well-established processes for labeling development, review, and approval, says Jay Nadler, President and CEO of Liquent and Senior VP of Thomson Scientific. ICTI Acquires Metatrial EDC Software The marriage of ICTI’s interactive voice response (IVR) capabilities with EDC provides trial sponsors with opportunities to further accelerate clinical trials, increase data quality, and reduce costs. Interactive Clinical Technologies Inc. (ICTI) has expanded its offerings to include electronic data capture (EDC) software and services through the acquisition of MetaTrial 4.0, and all related staff, from ViPS Biomedical Services Inc. The marriage of ICTI’s interactive voice response (IVR) capabilities with EDC provides trial sponsors with opportunities to further accelerate clinical trials, increase data quality, and reduce costs. MetaTrial 4.0, an EDC software, works both online and offline, providing the opportunity to conduct clinical research in any environment. Additionally, the EDC team joining ICTI has experience with a wide variety of clinical-trial sponsors, including major pharmaceutical companies, leading CROs, academic researchers, biotechnology companies, and medical-device manufacturers. “As we looked at opportunities to offer greater value to our clients, EDC was a logical step,” says Richard McCann, president of ICTI. Dendrite Announces First Source Sales Applications Suite Dendrite International Inc. has launched the First Source Sales Applications (FSSA) solution set, the next generation of the company’s sales effectiveness solutions. Designed to improve salesforce effectiveness across divisions and regions, the FSSA suite allows companies to integrate clinical, marketing, sales, and financial information to provide sales representatives with a comprehensive view of their customers across coordinated sales and marketing activities. The new FSSA suite has been improved through the application of human-centered design principles — a design process that observes users in their own environment and accurately captures the work flow that is then designed into the software. These improvements enable sales representatives to work more efficiently so they can spend more time building relationships with customers. To support the FSSA suite, Dendrite also now offers First Source Sales Support, a complete set of services, including implementation services, managed hosting services; hardware and asset management services; help desk services; learning and collaborative services; and computer systems validation services. Dendrite’s First Source Sales Applications improve business ROI by providing a substantially enhanced level of customer intimacy, helping ensure that pharmaceutical companies can fully maximize sales efforts and the potential of their investment in supporting solutions, says Paul Zaffaroni, Chief Operating Officer of Dendrite. Laszlo Implements Allergy Buddy Laszlo Systems has launched Allergy Buddy, an online application developed for sanofi-aventis to promote Allegra and NasacortAQ. The technology fosters brand loyalty by placing products in front of target audiences via regular messages, alerts, and reminders delivered to the computer desktops of allergy sufferers. The lightweight application, which uses Laszlo’s rich Internet application platform, delivers a bidirectional channel of communication between the brand and the customer. Real-time data feeds ensure the user’s profile presents the latest reports on local pollen types and levels, as well as local and national weather forecasts. Because the program is controlled on the server-side, consumers need not download anything obtrusive to their desktops. “Allergy Buddy is a great example of how Laszlo’s technology can be used to create truly innovative, streamlined, and powerful consumer-facing Web applications that offer real-time data without the annoying and time-consuming page refreshes associated with HTML-Web,” says Antony Campitelli, VP of marketing at Laszlo Systems. The consumer gets easy-to-digest, helpful information, while the company is able to reinforce its brand awareness and foster longer-term customer loyalty, says Antony Campitelli, VP of Marketing at Laszlo Systems. Group DCA and Serious USA Form Strategic Alliance Group DCA has formed a strategic alliance with Serious USA Inc., allowing it exclusive pharmaceutical industry rights to Serious’ CD Cardz technology. CD Cardz are credit card-sized media that carry digital content and work in a computer’s compact disc drive. They are compatible with both Windows and Macintosh operating systems. Group DCA’s CD Cardz hold a number of customized applications that work with the company’s proprietary interactive online software package known as DIAGRAM (dialogue graphics motion). These applications include interactive e-detailing sessions, online advisory boards, and market research. According to company officials, future applications may include use as a credit card for the distribution of points for gift redemption, cash honoraria, and even the fulfillment of samples. “We are very excited about our new partnership with Serious and what this CD card will mean for pharmaceutical company marketers,” says Robert O. Likoff, CEO of Group DCA. “Marketers now have an opportunity to use an entirely different medium — an attractive and convenient credit card — to provide interactive, value-added programming and promotions to both healthcare providers and patients.” Monitorforhire.com Upgrade Connects Clients to Clinical Monitors in Seconds Monitorforhire.com (MFH) has added several new features to its Website to help clinical-trial sponsors quickly staff their projects with qualified clinical monitors. The upgrades are designed to make MFH’s staffing resources more readily available to clients and speed up the process of launching a clinical trial. “By providing instant access to our monitoring resources, we are helping our clients to increase the efficiency of their trials and get their products to market more rapidly,” says Scott Freedman, president of Monitorforhire.com. Specific site improvements include: the addition of text messaging to quickly notify monitors of important information, such as new projects; a mapping tool to locate monitors by therapeutic specialty and indication within a given region; and tools to enable monitors to identify and locate current MFH projects within their region. In clinical R&D, an extra day can cost up to $1 million in lost sales. Traditional staffing models often require days or even weeks to locate and hire appropriate personnel. Follow up Choice Media, Somerset, N.J., is a healthcare information network that specializes in buying, selling, and delivering online marketing solutions with customized multimedia strategies. For more information, visit choicemedia.com. Dendrite International Inc., Bedminster, N.J., provides sales, marketing, clinical, and compliance solutions for the life-sciences and pharmaceutical industry. For more information, visit dendrite.com. Elsevier MDL, San Leandro, Calif., a division of Elsevier Inc., provides informatics, database and workflow solutions that accelerate the discovery and development of successful new drugs by improving the speed and quality of scientists’ decision making. For more information, visit elsevier.com. Group DCA, Montclair, N.J., creates interactive online programs to serve the diverse communications needs of pharmaceutical companies and healthcare professionals. For more information, visit groupdca.com. Infotrieve Inc., Los Angeles, provides content management technology and information services. For more information, visit infotrieve.com. Interactive Clinical Technologies Inc. (ICTI), Yardley, Pa., provides interactive clinical- trial management solutions. For more information, visit icti-global.com. Laszlo Systems, San Mateo, Calif., is a software developer dedicated to building rich Internet applications that deliver a breakthrough online user experience. For more information, visit laszlosystems.com. Monitorforhire.com, Philadelphia, is a Web-enabled resource man gement company that provides qualified, regional independent clinical monitors to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical-device, and contract research industries. For more information, visit monitorforhire.com. Serious USA Inc., New York, designs, develops, and distributes CD-Cardz and DVD-Cardz for the digital delivery of consumer business content. For more information, visit serious.com. Sigma-Aldrich Corp., St. Louis, is a life-sciences and high technology company whose biochemical and organic chemical products and kits are used in scientific and genomic research, biotech, pharmaceutical development, and disease diagnosis. For more information, visit sigma-aldrich.com. The Thomson Corp., Stamford, Conn., provides integrated information solutions to business and professional customers. For more information, visit thomson.com.
