Cycle times reduced through process improvement and implementation of industry leading technology
Dublin, Ireland, 9 December, 2015 – ICON plc, (NASDAQ: ICLR) a global provider of drug development solutions and services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries, today announced that it has accelerated its study start-up timelines globally and has achieved a reduction of mean start-up cycle times by up to 25%.
Following a comprehensive review of study start-up activities, ICON has adopted a range of new processes and procedures that have streamlined site activation. Unnecessary time-consuming activities have been eliminated and ICON has also fostered enhanced communication between sites and global teams to improve the predictability and increase the speed in site start-up.
ICON has reduced or eliminated many previously manual processes through the implementation of goBalto Activate, which ICON has introduced to all clinical studies in over 50 countries. goBalto Activate is a purpose-built software solution that automates study start-up by providing country-specific workflows that guide study teams to complete the specific documents and tasks required for activating a site in any country, whilst tracking progress automatically. Providing status updates and critical path reports in real-time, goBalto Activate enhances collaboration between study teams and sites by providing a single area for exchanging documents, recording and updating tasks, monitoring submissions and communicating updates for study start-up.
ICON is also using goBalto Analyze for reporting and to provide real-time visibility into start-up across multiple studies and regions. Analyze enables ICON to discover meaningful patterns in study start-up data and also quantifies study team performance.
“Accelerating study start-up is a key component in project delivery optimisation and by combining streamlined processes with industry leading tools we are helping our clients take time and cost from their development programs,” commented Marie Keegan, VP and Global Functional Head, Study Start-Up at ICON. “With our process improvement initiatives supported by goBalto’s Activate and Analyze solutions, we are able to deliver enhanced study start-up results, with median cycle times reduced by up to 25%.”
“The life sciences industry has recognised study start-up as one of areas within clinical trials that needs to be significantly enhanced,” said Jae Chung, goBalto’s founder and president. “ICON is taking the lead in automating a cumbersome industry process, with the goal of getting medicines to those in need, faster.”
About goBalto
goBalto develops next-generation solutions that simplify and accelerate clinical study start-up in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries. Our management team has over 100 years of combined experience in the life sciences industry and enterprise software implementation. Our team has worked for such companies as Amgen, Genentech, Quintiles, Roche, Johnson & Johnson, and Model N. With a proven commitment to customer success, disruption, and study start-up optimization, we’re changing the way our leading global pharma and CRO customers approach their business processes. Based in San Francisco, California, we have satellite offices in Pennsylvania and Singapore. For more information, visit www.gobalto.com.
About ICON plc
ICON plc is a global provider of drug development solutions and services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries. The company specialises in the strategic development, management and analysis of programs that support clinical development - from compound selection to Phase I-IV clinical studies. With headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, ICON currently operates from 77 locations in 38 countries and has approximately 11,700 employees. Further information is available at www.iconplc.com
