Medidata Solutions, Inc., a leading provider of clinical trial
solutions, today announced the expansion of its ASPire to Win(R)
partner program for contract research organizations (CRO)
consultancies and other service providers. Driven by the growing
opportunity for CROs and other service providers to meet sponsor
demand for the Medidata Rave(R) electronic data capture (EDC)
management and reporting solution, Medidata has broadened its ASPire
to Win program to offer various levels of training and support for a
wide range of partner activity.
Life science organizations are increasingly turning to CROs and
other service providers to manage all or parts of their clinical
research process. Worldwide, there are more than 1,000 CROs serving
the needs of small, medium and large life science companies. Fueling
this growth in outsourcing is the increasing complexity and growing
size of studies, as well as the trend to conduct clinical research
globally. As a growing number of sponsors rely on EDC systems to
contain research costs and streamline trial timelines while ensuring
quality decision-making, these companies look to CROs to help
implement and manage EDC trials. To meet customer needs, CROs are
building EDC-related services into their portfolios, including EDC
site administration, study build and reporting. With the expansion of
ASPire to Win, Medidata offers a flexible program to equip CROs and
service providers with various Rave skills to help them optimize their
services revenue around this industry-leading technology.
"We value the contributions that CROs and other service
organizations are making to the EDC growth trend and understand that
each organization has a unique set of goals and requirements for EDC,"
said Graham Bunn, vice president of global CRO partnerships at
Medidata. "As a result, we´ve moved away from a ´one size fits all´
approach and expanded our program to enable our global network of
business partners to choose the plan that will best meet the needs of
their customers and complement their unique capabilities as well as
grow their business with Medidata Rave."
Medidata´s ASPire to Win Program is a non-exclusive enablement and
accreditation program that supports selected CROs and other
organizations, positioning them to create new services revenue around
the implementation of Medidata Rave. ASPire to Win now offers four
unique partner levels:
-- Rave Aware: Partners are qualified to market Medidata Rave
having completed Medidata Rave business development and end
user training that familiarizes them with the Medidata Rave
platform and Medidata services. This level is appropriate for
a broad range of organizations, including CROs, consultants
and other service providers that may evaluate or recommend EDC
systems to clients.
-- Rave Ready: Partners complete training to provide basic EDC
services, including end user training, site and user
administration, reporting and closeout activities for Medidata
Rave implementations.
-- Rave Accredited: Partners are trained to build and configure
their customers´ Medidata Rave studies. This level is ideal
for organizations that want to provide study build services
for Medidata Rave - in addition to end user training
administration and reporting services - and prepares CROs for
full knowledge transfer in Rave Accredited Plus.
-- Rave Accredited Plus: Partners can provide the full suite of
Medidata Rave-related services, including end user training
study build, reporting, outputs, integrations and migrations.
This level is designed for organizations that want to be a
one-stop shop for Medidata Rave implementation services.
Medidata first announced the ASPire to Win program in April 2005
in order to help CROs meet growing sponsor demand for Medidata Rave.
Since then, ASPire to Win has grown to include 11 partners, ranging
from smaller clinical consultancies to large, global CROs.
"We´ve partnered with Medidata in response to the growing number
of sponsors that request Medidata Rave implementations and related
services," said James Esinhart, executive vice president of Biometrics
and Late Phase at Chiltern, a UK-based CRO. "Medidata has proven to be
a key strategic partner as we grow our global business. They
understand our specific needs and unique capabilities, and partner
with us in a way that enables us to best use Rave to provide customers
with truly innovative EDC solutions."
About Medidata Solutions Worldwide
Medidata Solutions (www.mdsol.com) is a leading provider of
clinical trial solutions that enable the world´s most advanced life
science organizations to maximize the value of their clinical research
investments by putting powerful tools into researchers´ hands. A
pioneer since 1999 in innovative technologies for planning and
managing clinical studies - including protocol design; clinical data
capture, management and reporting; and trial contracting and
negotiation - Medidata Solutions and its global network of business
partners address the unique needs of sponsors and sites of all sizes.
With deep expertise in conducting studies across all phases and
therapeutic areas, on six continents and in more than 80 countries
Medidata Solutions helps clinical researchers reduce trial cycle
times, achieve early visibility to reliable clinical data, and
maintain strict fiscal responsibility, while safely accelerating the
process of bringing life-enhancing treatments to market.
