Skyscape Releases Mobile Drug Usage Reference Software
Skyscape Inc. has released FamilyRx: AHFS Patient Drug Information, a mobile medical reference that places trusted, up-to-date information on proper medication usage into the hands of patients and their families. FamilyRx is available for use on Palm and Pocket PC-powered PDAs and smartphones. It provides patients with a single, handheld source of important information and instructions on drug usage, dosing, precautions, possible side effects and interactions, and more. Published by American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, FamilyRx is updated quarterly and includes a variety of topics ranging from simple dosing information to details on home infusion and cancer chemotherapy. With the solution in hand, patients are able to understand the benefits and potential dangers of their medications. FamilyRx is easily cross-indexed with other Skyscape consumer health and wellness references, including CheckRx: Patient Drug Interactions Guide, to provide families with a powerful and integrated mobile source of health and wellness information. When patients fully understand the proper use of medications, the side effects, and the benefits, they feel empowered by this knowledge and are more comfortable with their treatment plan, says Sandeep Shah, President and CEO of Skyscape Inc. Axentis Upgrades Compliance Software Solution Axentis has upgraded its Axentis Enterprise (Ae) solution to include expanded reporting, publishing, and discovery capabilities. The upgraded solution features a sophisticated dashboard within Ae Risk & Control Management (RCM) for Sarbanes-Oxley that highlights progress within a compliance cycle and focuses on material gaps and their status. The dashboard also enables authorized users to drill down into data records, annotations, and documents. The upgrades also include enhancements to existing reporting facilities within the Ae Incident Management and Ae Policy, Training, and Certification product lines to help measure effectiveness, ensure early detection and prevention, and improve performance across the dozens of regulations and processes managed with these products. These upgrades were implemented in response to the rapidly changing reporting and disclosure requirements, as well as the increased desire to integrate compliance management with risk management and corporate governance. The Ae solution was developed based on responses from a focus group that documented their “dream reports and dashboards.” Axentis is deploying the functionality to its 50,000 Sarbanes-Oxley users and its more than 500,000 (non-SOX) governance, risk, and compliance users. Sustainable compliance is about effective change management and that includes being able to rapidly accommodate evolving guidelines and best practices. We are extremely proud of the breadth of our technology and the power of our software as a service model, says Ted Frank, President of Axentis. Affymetrix Launches New Gene Analysis Technologies The Affymetrix GeneChip Array Station enables users to increase the scope and scale of research projects without requiring additional manpower. Affymetrix Inc. has launched the GeneChip Array Station, an automated target preparation and microarray processing system that increases accuracy and lowers the total cost per sample for large-scale studies. By improving data consistency and decreasing the hands-on time needed to perform experiments, the Affymetrix Array Station enables scientists to accelerate discovery, publication, and time-to-market for new tests and therapies. The Affymetrix GeneChip Array Station enables users to increase the scope and scale of research projects without requiring additional manpower. It allows one person to prepare the same number of targets that four people could accomplish manually and reduces the hands-on time for target preparation from about 12 hours to two hours. Codeveloped with Caliper Life Sciences, the array station features an upgraded Caliper Sciclone liquid-handling workstation and an on-board Twister II plate handler for fast start-up and easy operation. The complete system includes flexible instrumentation, GeneChip microarrays, optimized assays and reagents, and open software architecture. The Affymetrix Array Station also is scalable to address both current and future research requirements, featuring built-in capabilities that will allow it to process high throughput array plates. In other news, Affymetrix also has launched the GeneChip Human Mapping 500K Array Set, two microarrays that genotype more than 500,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in a single experiment for less than a quarter of a cent per SNP. Based on the same proven assay used in the GeneChip Human Mapping 10K and 100K Arrays, the 500K enables researchers to search across the entire genome in detail to find genes involved in disease or drug response. The 500K Set is the first product to use the output of the International HapMap Project. SNPs from the 500K Set are publicly available, and data gathered using the 500K Set can be analyzed in the context of the emerging HapMap. “The GeneChip Human Mapping 500K Array Set is the first product to enable scientists to perform high-density genome-wide scans efficiently and cost-effectively,” says Greg Yap, VP of DNA products at Affymetrix. “By bringing more high-quality genetic information to researchers, we are enabling scientists to better understand how genetics can affect the likelihood of developing a disease or the response to a drug.” The primary application for the 500K Set is identifying genes involved in complex disease or drug response. Scientists are now beginning whole-genome association studies in complex diseases that have been difficult to study using traditional tools and techniques. Studying hundreds or even thousands of genetic markers has generally been uninformative in these diseases, but by analyzing 500,000 markers simultaneously, researchers hope to harness enough statistical power to make meaningful genetic discoveries. The Affymetrix GeneChip Array Station enables users to increase the scope and scale of research projects without requiring additional manpower. The Value Model is designed to provide pharmaceutical manufacturers with specific projections based on the real-world variables they input themselves. New Electronic and Web-based Applications, Sites, and Technologies January 2006 E-media EPCglobal’s online tool Analyzes the Value of EPC-Based RFID Implementations EPCglobal US has released the EPC Value Model for the pharmaceutical industry. Completed in partnership with the Stanford University Global Supply Chain Forum and Eindhoven University in the Netherlands, the Value Model gives pharmaceutical manufacturers insight into the costs and benefits of employing electronic product code (EPC) technology to automatically track goods in the supply chain anywhere in the world. The model is designed to provide companies with specific projections based on the real-world variables they input themselves. Researchers built the product after extensive interviews with seven of the world’s largest pharmaceutical manufacturers and two wholesalers. When polled, each identified counterfeiting, product diversion, and reconciliation as the three major business issues that could be most effectively addressed with EPC/RFID, in addition to out-of-stocks and shrinkage. The World Health Organization estimates that as much as 5% to 10% of the world’s pharmaceutical products are counterfeit, with about 25% counterfeit in third-world countries. The Value Model is available on EPCglobal’s Website and details are included in a comprehensive white paper titled Assessing the Value of EPC/RFID in the Pharmaceutical Industry. Both the model and the white paper offer estimates of the expected benefits (as measured in the reduction of counterfeiting, product diversion, and in reconciliation, among other benchmarks), as well as the expected costs of implementing EPC-based RFID over five years. The Value Model will estimate an expected payback period and a five-year discounted net present value of the RFID implementation process. According to experts, this analysis is crucial for developing an internal business case for deploying EPC technologies. “Pharmaceutical manufacturers are working with EPCglobal as part of their strategy to ensure a safe and secure supply chain,” says Mike Meranda, president of EPCglobal US. According to executives at the nonprofit organization, several states and the federal government have either regulated or suggested the need to secure this vital supply chain. “EPC technologies offer an ideal way to meet this challenge,” Mr. Meranda says. “We look forward to helping to advance this vital effort.” firstRain Launches On-Demand Web-Search Service firstRain has launched its new on-demand service, with significant software enhancements, to offer pertinent, timely, and personalized business intelligence from across the Web. firstRain’s on-demand service encompasses the firstRain software platform and professional services. The software, resource directory, and category structure in the platform are customized and personalized for each customer by the professional services team. The hosted service is convenient and cost-effective; it does not require a dedicated server, special software, maintenance, updating, or IT involvement. The service matches information sources and search methodologies to meet customers’ intelligence requirements. It allows clients to select sources of intelligence from across the Web, encompassing subscription sites, RSS feeds, Websites, SEC filings, blogs, news, and message boards; categories of intelligence to be reported; topics about which the customer must be knowledgeable; ways in which the intelligence content is to be delivered; frequency of reporting; and criteria that trigger alerts. “Our customers tell us that the Web has become their virtual data warehouse for external intelligence,” says Penny Herscher, CEO of firstRain. “Competitive companies are now much more concerned with acting on today’s and tomorrow’s external challenges. For that reason, they need custom-focused, highly relevant intelligence delivered to them in a convenient, useful manner.” Along with the launch of the application service, firstRain has significantly enhanced its platform software. The benefits of these enhancements include new ways to search; the addition of field intelligence; easier comment sharing; improved editorial capability and personalized delivery options; and multilevel categorization. The software, resource directory, and category structure in the platform are customized and personalized for each customer’s implementation by the professional services team. BioStorage Technologies Introduces Web ISISS to Manage Global Inventories BioStorage Technologies Inc. has launched an Internet-based system that offers clients real-time sample logistics tracking and management. The application, called Web ISISS (Intelligent Specimen Inventory Storage System), enables BioStorage’s clients to monitor sample status and activity, view audit trails and documentation, schedule shipments, and run reports on biological materials stored in the company’s facilities. This functionality is available from any PC with an Internet connection. Web ISISS is the next generation of BioStorage’s industry-leading ISISS sample management software, a title 21 CFR Part 11-compliant inventory management system that allows every detail of sample storage and handling to be continuously monitored, reported, and tracked. Web ISISS features an easy-to-use, Web-based interface that requires no software installation and allows clients to access sample inventories and self-service reporting tools anywhere in the world through a secure Internet connection. Additionally, the application’s advanced specimen-management functionality allows users to: see a complete list of all stored samples; monitor status, activity, and documentation for stored samples; view or print detailed audit trails that report on the activities and history of every sample; alert BioStorage to incoming shipments; schedule shipments for samples or sample groups that need to be stored or retrieved; provide unlimited, customer-authorized access to designated employees; customize reports to project-specific or company-specific requirements; access, share, and exchange sample data across departments and facilities; post shipping information, forms, newsletters, or other pertinent documents; and view, print, and send predesigned or sample reports. “Web ISISS was designed in response to client requests for added visibility into and control over their sample inventories; it delivers faster, easier, and more secure access to essential data and functionality than did the previous version of the system,” says Scott Sheaffer, BioStorage’s VP of technology and information. “Web ISISS also gives clients complete control over inbound and outbound specimen shipping and scheduling. This is especially critical for organizations with multiple facilities that need to manage and transport biological specimens across the globe.” The software, resource directory, and category structure in the platform are customized and personalized for each customer’s implementation by the professional services team. Web ISISS is intuitive, user-friendly, and operates with minimal technology requirements, says Scott Sheaffer, VP of Technology and Information at BioStorage Technologies Inc. Siperian Releases Customer Data Integration Solution Siperian Inc. has released the Siperian Hub Managed Service Solution, an adaptive customer data integration (CDI) solution deployed as a managed service. The solution delivers unified customer views across disparate data sources and applications to business users. Organizations are able to create more efficient and profitable customer relationships, reduce operational costs, and increase the accuracy of regulatory compliance by creating a “system of record” for customer-relationship and reference data that are strewn across multiple applications and data sources. “Now, organizations can leverage all the benefits of an extensive CDI platform without the need to manage and support the solution in-house,” says Darlene Mann, CEO of Siperian. Recognizing that organizations of all sizes can benefit from the CDI solution, Siperian has selected Unisys Corp. to become the company’s first managed services partner. Under the agreement, Unisys is responsible for configuring, implementing, and operating the Hub Managed Service Solution for Siperian. “Increased insight into a customer’s interactions, preferences, and value to an organization will allow our mutual customers to both manage costs more efficiently and identify revenue enhancement opportunities,” says Christopher Leibfreid, director of business intelligence at Unisys. “By leveraging all the functionality of Siperian’s CDI Hub with the managed services, technology, and business process outsourcing capabilities provided by Unisys, our mutual customers can implement a robust CDI strategy without the challenge of staffing, supporting, and managing an enterprise solution.” We are thrilled to partner with Unisys and provide our mutual clients, regardless of their size, with a CDI solution that leverages our industry experience and our adaptive customer transaction hub, says Darlene Mann, CEO of Siperian Inc. Organizations can leverage all the benefits of an extensive CDI platform without the need to manage and support the solution in-house. GSW Launches New Website GSW Worldwide has redesigned its Website. The new site was designed to embody the agency’s brand — liberating ideas — and to effectively represent GSW Worldwide’s global network and its capabilities. Developed in partnership with GSW Worldwide’s sister agency, Blue Diesel, the redesigned Website communicates the agency’s originality and irreverent personality through its copy, layout, and whimsical hotography. The site features the agency’s new global creative video, which displays recent creative work from its U.S. and global network, profiles of its partner agencies in 11 global markets, case studies of some of the agency’s most effective campaigns, and information on the agency’s wide range of advertising and marketing services. It also highlights some of the unique talent behind GSW Worldwide’s work through profiles on a handful of “liberated employees.” The purpose of the new Website was to demonstrate to our current and potential clients how GSW Worldwide differentiates itself through liberating ideas and to reflect the agency’s global reach, says Brian Heffernan, Chief Marketing Officer, GSW Worldwide. Dendrite Launches Web-based Solution to Enhance Pharmaceutical Brand Performance Dendrite International Inc. has launched 360° Insights, a Web-based solution designed to provide immediate, high-impact business intelligence about brand, market, and sales performance. Designed specifically for the pharmaceutical industry, 360° Insights integrates data from sales and marketing initiatives, enabling pharmaceutical sales and marketing teams to gain comprehensive, accurate, and actionable insights about their customers and their brands. The availability of the tool comes as the pharmaceutical industry continues to evolve during the integration era, an inflection point driven by increasingly complex regulatory pressures combined with competitive and economic challenges. Dendrite’s 360° Insights enables synergistic integration and analysis, leading to strategic action, by collecting and analyzing transactional information to gain up-to-date customer behavior, sales trends, market share, field sales coverage, promotional analysis, and program tracking. These insights enable pharmaceutical sales and marketing organizations to make strategic decisions about product development, marketing initiatives, and sales tactics. The solution features: • An integrated optimized analytics data mart capable of rapidly processing and loading large volumes of data into multiple star schemas to efficiently address dynamic business needs; • An insights-driven dashboard that allows users to define their view, preferences, and business flow, helping to simplify navigation and provide real-time actionable outcomes; • Reporting that offers the ability to identify and understand the behavior of a prescriber or trends related to sales representatives, territories, customer, and brand, to support critical behavior, and to easily launch integrated tactical programs via personal and nonpersonal channels; • Seamless integration with Dendrite’s next-generation relationship management capabilities, nonpersonal channels, and/or salesforce effectiveness (SFE) solutions; • A library of analysis, which is a predefined list of standard reports that enable sales and marketing to evaluate information that can answer key questions, recognize business trends, discover new opportunities, and identify potential problems; and • A turnkey solution implementation through a prebuilt business intelligence infrastructure. Dendrite’s 360° Insights enables synergistic integration and analysis, leading to strategic action. NetRegulus Unveils Regulatory Data Management Software NetRegulus has launched NetRM, a Web-based, regulatory data management software platform. NetRegulus Inc. has launched NetRM, a Web-based, regulatory data management software platform to help life-sciences companies improve operational efficiencies, launch products faster, and identify potential issues earlier. Designed on a single J2EE platform-independent architecture, NetRM provides security and scalability for mission-critical deployments. A series of study and quality modules leverage a common data model for shared data elements, enabling ease of access to critical product performance information, as well as enterprisewide trending and performance management. Additionally, the modular design allows the NetRM system to be used as a point solution for either study or quality, or as a fully integrated study and quality system that spans product life cycles from preclinical trials to postmarket activities. Lathian Releases Electronic CME Solution Lathian Systems Inc. has released its medical education solution, a key component of the company’s Spectrum of Solutions suite that lets healthcare professionals earn electronic continuing medical education (eCME) credits allowing them to further their education and expand their clinical knowledge at their own pace, on their own schedule. All that is required is a computer, a Web browser, and an Internet connection. Lathian’s advanced medical education technology helps extend the reach of educational programs. Both existing and new content are delivered in an engaging online format that accommodates an unlimited number of physicians. Additionally, each Lathian Medical Education program is customized to captivate and educate audiences with a genuine one-on-one learning experience. Lathian’s Medical Education eCME platform enables pharmaceutical and life-sciences marketers to reach key audiences in multiple ways, including multimedia presentations, audience creation, and business intelligence. “Life-sciences companies spend 10 times more on medical education than they do on promotion,” says V. Brewster Jones, chairman and CEO of Lathian. “Our innovative system lets them provide online sessions that maximize what we call ROE, or return on education. Lathian is bridging the gap between life-sciences marketers and their audience.” Our innovative system lets life-sciences companies provide online sessions that maximize what we call ROE, or return on education, says V. Brewster Jones, Chairman and CEO of Lathian. Follow up Affymetrix Inc., Santa Clara, Calif., applies the principles of semiconductor technology to the life sciences to develop and commercialize systems that enable scientists to improve quality of life. For more information, visit affymetrix.com. American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Bethesda, Md., is a national, professional association that represents pharmacists who practice in hospitals, health-maintenance organizations, long-term care facilities, home care, and other components of healthcare systems. For more information, visit ashp.org. Axentis, Warrensville Heights, Ohio, provides enterprise governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) management solutions. For more information, visit axentis.com. BioStorage Technologies Inc., Indianapolis, provides advanced biomaterials storage, inventory management, and worldwide cold-chain logistics. For more information, visit biostoragetech.com. Dendrite International Inc., Bedminster, N.J., provides sales, marketing, clinical, and compliance solutions for the life-sciences industry. For more information, visit dendrite.com. EPCglobal US, Lawrenceville, N.J., is a nonprofit, member-driven organization focused on helping firms, supply chains, and industries implement the Electronic Product Code (EPC) to achieve key business objectives. For more information, visit epcglobalus.org. firstRain, Foster City, Calif., is the creator of search-driven business intelligence that allows customers to derive and act on qualitative fundamentals about companies and markets. For more information, visit firstrain.com. GSW Worldwide, Columbus, Ohio, a subsidiary of inChord Communications Inc., is one of the largest healthcare advertising networks in the world. For more information, visit gsw-w.com. InvestBio Inc., New York, a holding company of Diversified Biotech Holdings Corp., serves as a central resource for biotechnology investors seeking unbiased information and access to investment opportunities. For more information, visit investbio.com. Lathian Systems Inc., Irvine, Calif., offers innovative online promotional and educational solutions to help life-sciences companies improve customer relationships, enhance product education, and increase sales. For more information, visit lathian.com. NetRegulus Inc., Centennial, Colo., develops study and quality data- management software that helps life-sciences companies improve operational efficiencies, launch products to market faster, and identify potential issues earlier. For more information, visit netregulus.com. Siperian Inc., San Mateo, Calif., provides customer-data integration and management platforms that deliver unified, accurate customer views across disparate data sources to users and systems to drive real-time business actions within existing operational processes. For more information, visit siperian.com. Skyscape Inc., Marlborough, Mass., provides interactive mobile references for medical professionals and solutions for health-conscious consumers for use on handhelds, smartphones, and personal computers. For more information, visit skyscapeonhand.com. Unisys, Blue Bell, Pa., is a worldwide technology services and solutions company. For more information, visit unisys.com.
