Covance sharpens lab test data management
software to streamline the laboratory testing aspect of its
clinical trials and allow sponsoring drug companies greater
involvement in the overall process.
LabLink is a secure web-based system that enables >Covance Central Laboratory Services' (CCLS) biopharmaceutical clients to monitor the progress of their clinical trial laboratory tests from anywhere in the world.
LabLink now provides CCLS clients with access to information regarding the management of test specimens, the status of time-sensitive kits supplied to investigator sites and the ability to create and schedule reports on the status of their clinical trial lab tests.
Pharmaceutical sponsors need to know the location of test specimens and kits at all times to be assured of the quality and integrity of lab test data.
With this in mind, a specimen management function was added to LabLink to enable sponsors to track the shipment of their study specimens into any of Covance's six central laboratory locations worldwide.
Sponsors can now also review the lab test results associated with individual specimens, as well as their subsequent storage at a Covance facility, or transferral to a third-party referral lab.
LabLink also now provides kit expiry information that allows sponsors to communicate with investigator sites to ensure that specimen collection kits are used before they expire and new kits are supplied when required.
It is important to ensure that valid kits are in use at all times because many kits used during clinical trials may contain time-sensitive items and the use of expired kits prejudices the overall trial and drives up overall cost in addition to inconveniencing patients, who must be re-tested.
Another important new feature of LabLink is the enhanced ability to generate and schedule customised reports, which save time and increase the efficiency and consistency of the sponsors' clinical trial teams.
In addition, the new reporting capabilities allow users to save and share report criteria and to auto-generate reports according to predefined schedules.
The improvements to LabLink were made by Covance in response to the needs indicated by over 500 current users of the system in an extensive interview process.
