Quartesian, Medrio Sign Multi-Year Agreement to Boost Clinical Operations

As clinical trials increase in size and complexity, outsourcing trials to contract research organizations (CROs) is becoming the norm. But as sponsors become more dependent on CROs for proper study execution, CROs must find ways to stay competitive and are driven to offer the best suite of services.

Quartesian, a full-service CRO, has entered a multi-year agreement with Medrio, a leading provider of eClinical technology, to bring advanced cloud-based services to their customers.

“The Medrio system will be a key asset in our efforts to compress timelines, reduce costs, and improve data cleanliness in our clinical trials, enabling us to deliver top-quality services to our clients and free up resources to work more productively,” said Stephen Boccardo, Senior Vice President of Business Development and Commercial Strategy at Quartesian in a press release. “We fully expect our partnership with Medrio over the course of this agreement to be fulfilling and mutually beneficial.”

The amount of patient data that can be collected from a trial is a blessing in disguise. Sponsors can now access health records, imaging data and other biometrics in addition to patient recorded data obtained through convenient cloud-based platforms. However, big data can also complicate data analysis and management, taking up time and resources that are already in short supply.

eClinical solutions are gaining traction in the clinical research community, opening up new ways to capture, store and interpret large datasets. Headquartered in San Francisco, Medrio offers local and international customers a wide variety of technologies and services to meet their clinical needs. The company experienced significant growth in 2017 and hopes to expand its product line and customer base in 2019.

By partnering with Medrio, Quartesian can now act like a “one-stop-shop” for sponsors looking to outsource their clinical trials and gain access to their advanced Electronic Data Capture (EDC) and eClinical tools.

“We’re excited to announce this multi-year partnership between Quartesian and Medrio,” said Steve Geffon, Chief Commercial Officer at Medrio. “By leveraging the functionality of Medrio’s eClinical platform and the support services of the Certified Partner Program, we expect Quartesian to be successful in exceeding their corporate objectives.”

Mergers, acquisitions and partnerships help companies access new markets, develop their expertise and expand their business offerings. CRO Quintiles Transnational Holdings and health IT company IMS Health Holdings forged their partnership in 2016, but has since changed their name to IQVIA. In the following year, INC Research and inVentiv Health announced their $7.4 billion merger offer outsourcing services from every stage of clinical development. Last year, Linical Accelovance Group was born, a global CRO specializing in large, multinational studies.

Patient recruitment is another challenge for sponsors. Companies like TrialSpark and Novartis are partnering up to tackle this problem with artificial intelligence, to identify “hotspots” of eligible participants and providing them access to the trial at their local doctor’s office.

To meet the growing demand for faster, more efficient clinical trials, trial sponsors and CROs need to leverage all the resources at their disposal.