FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Clinical Trial Technology Company Broadens Partner Program in Response to
Increasing Demand for Medidata Rave and Growing CRO and Service Provider Market
NEW YORK, NY – April 10, 2008 – Medidata Solutions, Inc., a leading provider of clinical trial
solutions, today announced the expansion of its ASPire to Win® partner program for contract
research organizations (CRO), consultancies and other service providers. Driven by the growing
opportunity for CROs and other service providers to meet sponsor demand for the Medidata
Rave® electronic data capture (EDC), management and reporting solution, Medidata has
broadened its ASPire to Win program to offer various levels of training and support for a wide
range of partner activity.
Life science organizations are increasingly turning to CROs and other service providers to
manage all or parts of their clinical research process. Worldwide, there are more than 1,000 CROs
serving the needs of small, medium and large life science companies. Fueling this growth in
outsourcing is the increasing complexity and growing size of studies, as well as the trend to
conduct clinical research globally. As a growing number of sponsors rely on EDC systems to
contain research costs and streamline trial timelines while ensuring quality decision-making, these
companies look to CROs to help implement and manage EDC trials. To meet customer needs,
CROs are building EDC-related services into their portfolios, including EDC site administration,
study build and reporting. With the expansion of ASPire to Win, Medidata offers a flexible
program to equip CROs and service providers with various Rave skills to help them optimize their
services revenue around this industry-leading technology.
“We value the contributions that CROs and other service organizations are making to the EDC
growth trend and understand that each organization has a unique set of goals and requirements for
EDC,” said Graham Bunn, vice president of global CRO partnerships at Medidata. “As a result,
we’ve moved away from a ‘one size fits all’ approach and expanded our program to enable our
global network of business partners to choose the plan that will best meet the needs of their
customers and complement their unique capabilities as well as grow their business with Medidata
Rave.”
Medidata’s ASPire to Win Program is a non-exclusive enablement and accreditation program that
supports selected CROs and other organizations, positioning them to create new services revenue
around the implementation of Medidata Rave. ASPire to Win now offers four unique partner
levels:
Rave Aware: Partners are qualified to market Medidata Rave, having completed Medidata Rave business development and end user training that familiarizes them with the Medidata Rave platform and Medidata services. This level is appropriate for a broad range of organizations, including CROs, consultants and other service providers that may evaluate or recommend EDC systems to clients.
Rave Ready: Partners complete training to provide basic EDC services, including end user training, site and user administration, reporting and closeout activities for Medidata Rave implementations.
Rave Accredited: Partners are trained to build and configure their customers’ Medidata Rave studies. This level is ideal for organizations that want to provide study build services for Medidata Rave – in addition to end user training, administration and reporting services
– and prepares CROs for full knowledge transfer in Rave Accredited Plus.
Rave Accredited Plus: Partners can provide the full suite of Medidata Rave-related services, including end user training, study build, reporting, outputs, integrations and migrations. This level is designed for organizations that want to be a one-stop shop for Medidata Rave implementation services.
Medidata first announced the ASPire to Win program in April 2005 in order to help CROs meet
growing sponsor demand for Medidata Rave. Since then, ASPire to Win has grown to include 11
partners, ranging from smaller clinical consultancies to large, global CROs.
“We’ve partnered with Medidata in response to the growing number of sponsors that request
Medidata Rave implementations and related services,” said James Esinhart, executive vice
president of Biometrics and Late Phase at Chiltern, a UK-based CRO. “Medidata has proven to be
a key strategic partner as we grow our global business. They understand our specific needs and
unique capabilities, and partner with us in a way that enables us to best use Rave to provide
customers with truly innovative EDC solutions.”
About Medidata Solutions Worldwide
Medidata Solutions (www.mdsol.com) is a leading provider of clinical trial solutions that enable
the world’s most advanced life science organizations to maximize the value of their clinical
research investments by putting powerful tools into researchers’ hands. A pioneer since 1999 in
innovative technologies for planning and managing clinical studies – including protocol design;
clinical data capture, management and reporting; and trial contracting and negotiation – Medidata
Solutions and its global network of business partners address the unique needs of sponsors and
sites of all sizes. With deep expertise in conducting studies across all phases and therapeutic
areas, on six continents and in more than 80 countries, Medidata Solutions helps clinical
researchers reduce trial cycle times, achieve early visibility to reliable clinical data, and maintain
strict fiscal responsibility, while safely accelerating the process of bringing life-enhancing
treatments to market.
Contact:
Susan McCarron
Lois Paul & Partners
781.782.5767
Susan_McCarron@lpp.com