Oracle introduces solution for clinical data management

Oracle India has forayed into the healthcare and medical research segment by offering a comprehensive clinical data management solution - Oracle Clinical. Informing about this tool, Ram Varanasi, GM, Sales-Oracle India said, "This product allows companies to standardize and control data definitions and data usage across a global operation, ensuring that data is defined, managed, and interpreted consistently worldwide. This expedites the multinational regulatory approval process and reduces cycle times in critical clinical trial processes, thereby accelerating time to market new products."

The latest release of Oracle Clinical, V4i adds an important functionality to the existing product, which is in an Integrated Clinical Research Information Environment. By exploiting the new features of Oracle Clinical, data management departments can redefine the way clinical trials are conducted.

About distribution strategy of Oracle for this product, Ram noted, "At Oracle, we have an extensive partner programme - Oracle PartnerNetwork, reaching out to various industry verticals. Close to 200 Oracle PartnerNetwork members in India are categorized under three partner levels - partner, certified partner, and certified advantage partner. These partners help Oracle reach out to customers and potential customers across India. Oracle's e-business applications partners in India include TCS, Wipro, Satyam, IBM-BCS, Infosys and
iFlex."

However, for the Oracle Clinical product, the vendor is currently with select partners who have extensive skill sets to implement this product.

Oracle has not decided any sales projections for this product. "We currently have four Oracle Clinical customers in this area in India - Ranbaxy, Pfizer, D&O and Asian Clinical Trials. We are expecting the momentum to increase in the next year," Ram informed.

Oracle Clinical is an integrated suite, which includes remote data capture for entering and managing data from the investigative site, thesaurus management system for classifying investigator terms against medical dictionaries, and the adverse event reporting system for managing product safety.

Informing about the market potential for this solution, Ram says, "International Data Corp (IDC) estimates that IT spending for the life sciences market will increase from $4 billion in 2001 to more than $11 billion this year." 

Studies done by 'Organization of Pharmaceutical Products of India' indicate that the clinical trial sector in India has burgeoned
into a $70 million market. The present trend reflects global CRO majors joining forces with the Indian CROs for undertaking a range of clinical trials in India. So, a big market exists for a solution like Oracle Clinical.

Informing about the business segments that Oracle is looking at, Ram informed, "Oracle Clinical is a specialized product targeted at companies carrying clinical research trails in India. These may or may not fall into the SME segment." However, he clarified that Oracle offers software solutions for all segments, be it large enterprises or the mid-market segment.

FAIZ ASKARI 

NEW DELHI