Fujitsu and ACRES Ally to Enhance Safety and Accelerate Medicines Development

Fujitsu Limited, one of the world’s top five information and communication technology (ICT) companies, and the Alliance for Clinical Research Excellence and Safety (ACRES) announced the formation of a Strategic Alliance to address challenges facing the development of medicines and health-related research endeavors.

Fujitsu is the leading ICT company in Japan, with an important presence in healthcare information systems both in Japan and globally. Committed to innovation, one of their current activities supports the search for new molecular compounds through the use of simulations being conducted by the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST) at the University of Tokyo(1). This effort aims to accelerate medicine development, without relying solely on traditional clinical trials through innovative application of IT and high-performance computer simulation.

Fujitsu and ACRES are establishing a technical working party, the ACRES-Fujitsu Technology Innovation Group, to explore closer alignment of electronic medical records (EMRs) and clinical research information systems, an essential step toward enabling innovative systems capabilities, including remote risk-based monitoring, online electronic auditing, and real-time pharmacovigilance safety monitoring.

The ACRES-Fujitsu partnership is part of a larger collaborative effort, the ACRES Technology Consortium, to better envision how Information and Communications Technology (ICT) can be more innovatively and effectively applied within the healthcare and health-research domains in Japan and across the ACRES Global Technology Network, in support of ACRES global system for clinical research.

ACRES integrates and leverages the expertise and investments of research stakeholders worldwide to build and maintain an open, shared global system for clinical trials conducted according to the highest standards of safety, quality and efficiency. Fujitsu, with its tradition of corporate social responsibility, joins more than 60 organizations in ACRES rapidly growing multi-stakeholder Alliance—people and groups who are committed to excellence and safety in clinical research everywhere in the world collaboratively building this global system.

“We are honored to have Fujitsu, Ltd. as our newest ally and strategic partner”, said Al Pacino, ACRES Vice-President for Collaborative Network Development. “Fujitsu’s expertise brings extraordinary resources to ACRES global technology initiatives—this is a major milestone. Successful integration of electronic health records and clinical trials information greatly furthers ACRES goal to get safe, effective medicines to the people who need them as efficiently as possible”.

Head of Fujitsu’s Next Generation Healthcare Innovation Center, Hirofumi Gouda, notes that “Fujitsu has high expectations that ACRES efforts and the Global Network System will not only greatly improve Quality Cost Delivery (QCD) in the related areas in clinical trials and clinical research, but also become a very important collaborative platform for helping creating a new knowledge base, including an evolving collaboration with stakeholders in healthcare and life science worldwide.”

ACRES President and CEO, Dr. Greg Koski added, “Emerging from the efforts of Dr. Kyoko Imamura and our colleagues at ACRES Japan, including its President, Dr Fumimaro Takaku, our partnership with Fujitsu is a landmark event. The decision of one of the world’s leading technology companies to join the ACRES Alliance attests to the power of systems thinking and multi-sector collaboration. The world of medicines development is undergoing transformation, and Fujitsu is helping ACRES Allies envision and build the future.”