March 12, 2007
How has your company adapted and responded to the changing economic climate in the past five years when so many others companies did not?
We have seen quite a bit of change throughout the industry over the past few years, perhaps with consolidation being the most visible of changes. Many of our competitors have succumbed to the pressure of mergers and acquisitions as an industry trend, but we pride ourselves on a different strategy — waiting for the right deal to come along versus jumping on the first opportunity that presents itself.
In early 2006, we went from a privately held company to a public company traded on the NASDAQ. Moving forward, etrials will grow organically, as we have proven to do successfully in past years, until the right opportunities reveal themselves to allow us to grow through acquisitions.
What is your vision for the future of the life sciences market over the next several years?
The ultimate goal is to develop and bring to market state-of-the-art drugs and therapies that improve our standard of living. The industry needs to come together to provide people with the opportunity to live longer, healthier lives. We can only hope that the life sciences market continues to grow at a rapid pace through drug development advancements, technological innovations, and discovery initiatives.
We especially see the drug development process gaining legs and shifting from a paper-based reporting system to an electronic reporting system in coming years. Currently, the adoption rate is steadily growing year-over-year and our fully integrated technology facilitates this shift.
What products and services does your company provide and what special capabilities do they offer the life sciences market?
etrials is an eClinical software and services provider that optimizes clinical trial management and accelerates time-to-market. We offer integrated solutions and products including electronic data capture (EDC), eDiary, and integrated voice response (IVR). What makes us unique and sets us apart from other eClinical providers is our ability to seamlessly integrate our technologies on a single platform. We offer pharmaceutical companies the tools they need to execute safer, more efficient, more cost-effective clinical trials by steering them toward technology as a solution, ultimately eliminating the human error aspect of data entry while simultaneously saving time and money.
Partnerships are an effective way to track life science advances and ensure that your company delivers timely products and services. Which life sciences companies or organizations have you partnered with or invested in and why?
Partnerships certainly are an important aspect of conducting and growing our business, and we recognize the value in initiating and maintaining such relationships. Partnerships with CROs are imperative to our continued success. In 4Q 2006, we initiated contracts with four CROs which ultimately progressed into ten new contracts overall.
We also have initiated partnerships with external data management firms such as Relsys International, the leading provider of software solutions for adverse event reporting. Our offerings now include the ability to view clinical and post-marketing surveillance data in a unified safety data warehouse to allow for improved productivity and accuracy in data reporting.
What are your most exciting products and initiatives in development, and how will they improve life science research?
We are in the process of rolling out our newest EDC design, which is expected to be available in Spring 2007. In designing EDC 2.0, the etrials team focused on developing an integrated platform that enhances the overall user experience through a number of functions. For example, we concentrated heavily on enhancing study analytics with real-time reporting; optimizing study design and configuration; improving workflow and navigation; and ultimately optimizing the overall user experience. It is important that we continue to develop new and more innovative designs for our technology and we plan to do just that.
Where do you see your company in five years?
etrials Worldwide is on course to acquire a life sciences company as quickly as the right opportunity reveals itself. Part of our strategic growth initiative is committing ourselves to continually deliver quarter-after-quarter revenue growth, which we are prepared to do through new business wins and maintaining our current client base. Five years from now, we hope to have achieved and maintained our position as the eClinical market leader. We see etrials taking technology to the next level.