nSpire’s ePRO tech wins $9m trial contracts

14-Sep-2009 - Last updated on 15-Sep-2009 at 08:44 GMT

Colorado trial support services group nSpire Health says its Koko spirometry and PiKoLogic ePro technologies were crucial factors in winning more than $9m (€6.1m) worth of clinical research contracts.

nSpire’s new contracts, signed late last month with “prominent pharmaceutical companies,” will see it provide laboratory, monitoring and data collection services for a number of clinical programmes.

The firm’s PiKoLogic data reporting system combines a real-time eDiary Spirometer, which measures lung inspiration and expiration, with electronic patient reported outcomes (ePRO) software and questionnaires.

nSpire said the technologies “gather home spirometry measurements with precision previously only available at investigator sites,” and suggest that “by using customized scenario-based branching logic questionnaires sponsors increase trial productivity.”

The firm added that the trials in question, some of which are scheduled to begin next month, will “include thousands of subjects in multiple phase trials and will demonstrate PiKoLogic in over 20 languages.”

Although further details are not being released, Tom Rothwell, director of project management, said the contracts call for “data capture and event reporting attributes unique to PiKoLogic and the company`s Web-based study management tools.”

ePRO market hots up

Although eClinical solutions like ePRO, electronic data capture (EDC) and interactive voice response (IVR) have been a fixture of trial programmes for a decade, the last 12 months have seen demand for this type of technology increase.

The upsurge in demand is being driven by a number of factors, including both the growing number of multicentre, multi-country clinical trials as well as increasing pressure from pharmaceutical sponsors to reduce trial costs.

This market expansion has led a number of CRO players to bolster their eClinical offerings by adding ePRO solutions.

In July for example, eClinical Phase Forward acquired ePRO specialist Maaguzi and Covance’s interactive voice and web response (IVWR) services in response to customer calls to “improving the involvement of patients.”

Later that month, Japanese contract research organisation (CRO) CMIC teamed up with ePRO firm PHT to develop a patient reporting network for trials conducted in Japan.

And, more recently, eResearch Technologies (ERT) sold its EDC unit to OmniComm Systems to allow it to focus on its cardiac services and ePRO businesses, which it said is a significant growth opportunity.