Clinical Trials: Eliminating the Paper Chase

For years, companies have offered remote data entry systems to transfer data from trial sites to a central server. But Big Pharma has by and large stuck to its old-fashioned paper ways. Now several start-ups are offering a new breed of web-based RDE and the pharmaceutical industry is starting to take interest. But before embracing an online approach to data collection, drug companies want proof that doing so will save them time and money. Pharma companies must also evaluate how to integrate data collection and management into the rest of their infrastructures. Collaboration rather than competition might best enable pharmaceutical; companies to fully realize the benefits of web-enabled trials through the cooperative sharing of resources.