More Hay on the Haystack Won’t Help You Find the Needle

May 2nd, 2012 by Brian

Gathering information is an important part of any decision-making process. In the era of web searches and social media, we all have more forums than we can handle for seeking out information on whatever topic interests us. While this availability of information and opinion is valuable, there comes a point where you can have too much of a good thing.

To put it another way, there comes a time to decide what you want. At a certain point, what do you care if someone else likes the white one when you like the black one? And yet, if you keep looking, you will keep finding information and opinions that could prolong your own decision-making process. More hay on the haystack won’t help you find the needle. So, how do you find your needle?

  1. Take a simple inventory of what you really need or want. (Your needle.)
  2. Prioritize those features that will give you immediate results.
  3. Trust yourself. Is anyone more of an expert in what works for you, than you? Read More…

A Successful Track Record for Patient Recruitment Improves Chances for Site Selection

April 24th, 2012 by Forte Research Customer Experience Services

Recruitment history factors heavily into sponsor and CRO selection of sites for upcoming studies. Given the importance of this very measurable statistic, it is important for sites to stay on top of this metric. Sites need to identify what their capabilities are and manage their performance in this area. A good way to improve or maintain a healthy recruitment track record is through the use of a patient database with easily accessible reporting features in order to determine the site’s ability to reach qualified patients before applying for a given study.

In a recent interview in the April 2 CenterWatch Weekly newsletter, Nicolas Cindric, CEO of PharmaSeek, talks about their six-step process for evaluating sites wanting to join their network. Of course, the site’s recruitment history tops the list of their criteria and the CRO tracks site performance in this area from study to study.

Successful sites approach patient recruitment with a “less-is-more” approach. These sites don’t take just any trial. Instead, they focus on the studies for which they know they will be able to accrue subjects. Read More…

A Significant Year Marked by Milestones

March 27th, 2012 by Srini

February marked our 12th anniversary. It was the end of a busy year filled with several milestones of which we are proud and grateful. Anniversaries are an excellent opportunity to take a look back and appreciate the good fortune and recognize the hard work that goes into any notable accomplishment.

Among our milestones in the last 12 months were the launch of an entirely new product line, expanding to a new geography, and securing a significant, position-securing contract.

Early in 2011, our focus was on the launch of the Allegro Research on Demand product line, which is a family of cloud-based clinical trial management systems. The first product to be released was Allegro CTMS@Site. Our goal was to begin supporting the often overlooked, smaller research sites, such as physician practices and community hospitals that participate in industry-sponsored clinical trials.

To support the launch of Allegro CTMS@Site, we expanded quickly, adding 13 new employees in 2011 and bringing the total employee count to 51 in the U.S. In the our new India office, which was also established within the last year, the team quickly grew to nine members.

As if launching a new product and overseas office were not enough, we continued throughout this time to focus on our flagship product, OnCore, and support the growing customer community that relies on this system every day. OnCore users utilize the system to manage large clinical research operations at universities, cancer centers, and children’s hospitals around the country.

Welcoming Yale to the OnCore community in May was certainly a defining moment for us. As a large and powerful clinical and translational science institute, Yale’s selection of the OnCore system to support their campus-wide clinical research operations was both an honor and a vote of confidence that solidified our emerging leadership position within the academic health center market.

Reflecting on the past year, we can say we hit all the milestones we set for ourselves and for this we are extremely grateful. In order to have the same sort of success for our next anniversary it will be a matter of maintaining efficient operations, continuing to grow the customer community, and finding the right people to add to Team Forte.

Forte Research Systems is Presenting Sponsor of Carbone’s Race for Research

March 26th, 2012 by Forte Research Customer Experience Services

Forte Research Systems is proud to announce sponsorship at the presenting level of Carbone’s Race for Research in 2012. This run/walk event will take place in Madison, Wisconsin on August 4th and benefits cancer research at the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center.

“We value the fact that our clinical research management systems are used to support the discovery of new cures by researchers around the world. This is an opportunity to celebrate the work done right here in our home town at the UW Carbone Cancer Center, our first customer,” said Srini Kalluri, Founder, President, CEO and Chief Customer Officer at Forte Research Systems.

The Carbone’s Race for Research is in its second year. Formerly known as “Walk Away From Cancer,” the event was updated with a run component in order to appeal to more participants. In addition to having the UW Marching band, a bouncy house, snacks and a walk route specifically for families, runners who participate in the 5K race will compete for prizes for the top finishers.  In total, about 800 walkers and runners are expected to participate.

Forte Research Systems Releases Allegro CTMS@Network for Site and Trial Management Organizations and Investigator Site Networks

March 22nd, 2012 by Forte Research Customer Experience Services

The clinical trial management system that streamlines site identification and selection, helps reduce study start-up timelines and provides visibility into study conduct.

Forte Research Systems, Inc. is pleased to introduce the newest member of the Allegro® product line, Allegro CTMS@Network, which addresses key challenges encountered by site management organizations (SMOs) and investigator site networks. Topping the list of key functionality are streamlined site selection, study start-up project management, and visibility into study conduct across multiple sites.

“Taking complex and data-intensive situations and making them easy to visualize and simple to manage is what the Allegro product line does best,” said Srini Kalluri, Founder, President, CEO and Chief Customer Officer at Forte Research Systems. “Allegro CTMS@Network is a terrific addition to the Allegro product family.” Read More…

Medical College of Wisconsin Selects OnCore to Support Centralized Clinical Research Operations

March 21st, 2012 by Forte Research Customer Experience Services

The Medical College of Wisconsin has selected the OnCore Clinical Research Management system to support centralized clinical research operations across the enterprise. With a robust portfolio of clinical trials, the Medical College’s research program provides research infrastructure, expertise in fundamental technologies and experimental approaches to multidisciplinary teams pursuing research in areas of clinical relevance.  Through the recent purchase, the OnCore system will be available to all research groups at the Medical College including the MCW Cancer Center.

Allegro Clinical Trial Management Systems Now Available in Europe, Middle East and Africa

March 13th, 2012 by Forte Research Customer Experience Services

With the opening of the newest Forte Research Systems office in Berkshire, England, the Allegro family of cloud-based clinical trial management systems (CTMS) is now available throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA region). Heading up the business development efforts for this region is Damian Tighe.

To learn more about the Allegro CTMS@Site or Allegro CTMS@Network product or to schedule an online demonstration, please contact Damian at Damian.Tighe@ForteResearch.com or call +44 01708.616.400.

Clinical Research Financials Pose Challenges for Sites of All Sizes

March 12th, 2012 by Forte Research Customer Experience Services

As providers of software used to help manage the day-to-day operations of clinical research organizations, it is our goal to provide systems that: fit into the daily workflow of our customers, get used, and provide value. We have the opportunity to influence the course of clinical research at a very fundamental level, and we take that seriously.

Many of the key challenges faced by clinical research sites are centered around managing study financials. Due to the economics of the drug development industry, there is ever growing pressure to maintain tighter control over research financials, from negotiating new contracts with pharmaceutical companies and creating budgets that account for “hidden costs,” to submitting invoices and recouping costs in a timely manner after completing work. Read More…

Out of Site, Out of Mind

January 17th, 2012 by Tony

While sponsors and CROs have achieved benefits from the implementation of EDC systems, these systems have done little to improve operational efficiency for the sites.

Given that Electronic Data Capture (EDC) systems and their variants have been used by the pharmaceutical industry for nearly two decades, you might think that most, if not all, the kinks had been worked out. While it may be the case with the sponsors of clinical trials, the investigator sites continue to voice many of the same frustrations that have plagued them since the introduction of EDC. As Christine Pierre, CEO of the site network RXTrials and founder of Site Solutions Summit, said in the article “Sites+EDC=Pain” (July 8, 2010 issue of ClinPage), “We definitely as an industry need to embrace technology far more than we are, it’s just that the development of this particular technology has excluded the site’s perspective.”

While competition is generally a good thing, the fact that there are multiple vendors of EDC systems means that sites typically contend with several different systems. From the sponsor’s perspective, a site need only master the EDC system used for that sponsor’s clinical trial. From the perspective of a site conducting multiple trials for multiple sponsors, they need to learn and use several different systems at the same time. Although the representation of trial data in the back-end database is becoming standardized (thanks to the efforts of the Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium (CDISC) and its members), there is precious little commonality among the systems in terms of user interfaces for data entry. Read More…

New Release of Allegro CTMS@Site Takes Financial Management, Productivity, and Compliance to the Next Level

January 5th, 2012 by Forte Research Customer Experience Services

The recent quarterly release of the Allegro CTMS@Site system from Forte Research Systems includes a great deal of sought-after functionality. The clinical trial management system (CTMS) designed exclusively for investigator sites now includes investigator and vendor payments, patient stipend management, patient scheduling functionality, and re-consenting management among its many recent enhancements.

“With the addition of payments functionality and the other enhancements in this release, Allegro CTMS@Site is now the most comprehensive system available for investigator sites,” said Srini Kalluri, CEO and Chief Customer Experience Officer at Forte Research Systems. Read More…

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