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Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center Standardizes on Phase Forward's InForm EDC Solution for Principal Investigator Initiated Clinical Trials

Business Wire, March 29, 2005

WALTHAM, Mass. -- Phase Forward (NASDAQ: PFWD)

--World Renowned Research Institute Selects InForm Solution to Assist in the Conduct of Its In-House Oncology Clinical Trials

Phase Forward (NASDAQ: PFWD), a leading provider of data management solutions for clinical trials and drug safety, today announced that the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI), on behalf of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC), has entered into a multi-year agreement to license the company's InForm(TM) electronic data collection (EDC) solution. The DFCI is standardizing on the InForm solution for all DF/HCC investigator-initiated clinical studies across its clinical research platform for the member institutions of DF/HCC and twenty network affiliates that do clinical research in oncology to improve the efficiency and quality of clinical trial data collection and management. The Institute expects the InForm solution to help them reduce clinical trial cycle times, allowing them to improve access to data by the study teams and eventually populate the CRF's with the hospital's clinical systems data - furthering its impact on the research and treatments of cancers.

The DF/HCC, launched in 1999 and supported in 2000 by a Cancer Center Support Grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) as a NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, is the largest cancer center in the U.S., with almost 900 faculty-level scientists performing clinical, basic, and population research. The DFCI is the administrative center of the DF/HCC, which runs approximately 150 investigator-initiated oncology studies per year, and at any time, can have upwards of 450 open studies. These trials test many types of treatments, such as new agents, vaccines, new approaches to surgery or radiation therapy, or new combinations of existing treatments for the different kinds of cancer seen in DF/HCC and affiliated hospitals.

"At present, we have approximately 35,000 paper CRFs being generated yearly, and query management is handled by email and faxes. Visibility into data is slow - Investigators have to initiate requests for clinical reports weeks before they are needed. With new studies continually being initiated within the Institute, it was imperative that we increase the efficiency of our clinical trials process," said Marina H. Nillni, Corporate Team Leader, Clinical Trials IS, DFCI.

"This is an exciting time for clinical research in cancer as we discover new therapeutic approaches at a rapid pace, enabled by a quantum leap in our ability to detect specific mutations in patients' tumors that can be targets for effective treatment. As our clinical trial activity continues to grow at a significant rate, we need an information management system that will facilitate the work of our clinical staff and, at the same time, improve our ability to manage large volumes of data accurately," said Faye C. Austin, Ph.D, SVP for Research, DCFI and Associate Director for Administration, DF/HCC.

Standardizing on the InForm solution will allow the Institute to expedite the collection and management of high quality data, gain real-time data visibility, and accelerate database lock - helping to reduce overall clinical research time. Phase Forward's Enterprise Adoption Team will deliver DFCI global technology and methodology planning, including implementation, a mentored pilot study, and training.

"Within the combined faculties of the DF/HCC resides the largest force of cancer scientists in any single research consortium in the U.S. We are honored to have been selected by the Institute to improve the efficiency of its clinical trial process and assist in its life-saving mission to find new cancer treatments and therapies," said Bob Weiler, president and CEO of Phase Forward.

About Phase Forward

Phase Forward is a leading provider of integrated data management solutions for clinical trials and drug safety. The company helps pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device companies bring needed drugs and therapies to market faster and more safely. Phase Forward offers proven solutions in electronic data capture (EDC), clinical data management (CDM), and adverse event reporting (AER). Phase Forward products and services have been utilized in over 10,000 clinical trials involving more than 1,000,000 clinical trial study participants at over 200 organizations worldwide including: AstraZeneca, Biogen Idec, Boston Scientific, Cedars-Sinai, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Guidant, Procter & Gamble, Quintiles, Sanofi-Aventis, and Schering-Plough Research Institute. Additional information about Phase Forward is available at www.phaseforward.com.

Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center

The Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC) is an inter-institutional research collaboration that unites the major clinical, population, and basic cancer research efforts of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Brigham and Women's, Children's, and Massachusetts General Hospitals. The DF/HCC formally became a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in 2000.


 

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