ClearTrial Adds Upgrade and Reports on Company Growth

Tomorrow, ClearTrial will announce ClearTrial 4, an upgrade to its product suite that is comprised of Plan, Source, and Track. The Clinical Trials Operations software has been gaining traction since its introduction in 2005, but 2010 was a banner year. When Applied Clinical Trials spoke with Andrew Grygiel, Vice President of Marketing and Product Management for ClearTrial, he highlighted the growth in revenue; a 120% growth in employees; additional, as well as growth among existing customers; and an office in Europe.

In 2010, ClearTrial signed on Boston Scientific and Allergan. Grygiel said that medical device companies showed more of an interest in the product and seem less tied into an Excel-based spreadsheet system for its trial planning, budgeting, and project status.

However, with Merck, Roche, AstraZeneca, and others, the momentum gain is not limited to the nimble or less conservative. ClearTrial's product allows companies to have a more accurate and complete budget. This at a time when Grygiel says less and less biopharma companies are willing to allow for the budget variances of 10% and above that seemed to be industry norm. That is, until the economy took its latest downturn.

While that plays out in a big way in the headlines with layoffs, reduced R&D, and outsourcing more functions to CROs—behind the scenes is the need to have accurate financials at hand. Not to mention the planning, forecasting, and tracking of the projects.

ClearTrial 4 was launched to its customers January 29. The major new capability is ClearTrial Task Manager, which allows organizations the ability to add or edit user-defined tasks and algorithms to the process. It was an improvement that customers requested, and was incorporated, as are many of the suggestions made by its user group.

Look for the press release to be announced out of the SCOPE meeting tomorrow and look for our podcast interview with Grygiel in the February 17 Applied Clinical TrialsDirect enewsletter.