ACRONET, a member of the ITOCHU group, is a forerunner in biostatistics and data management services in Japan has joined the Medidata Partner Programme to enhance its technology offerings across the clinical development process, whereas clinical trial activity in the Asia Pacific region continues to expand and contract research organizations (CRO) increasingly provide sponsors with a range of strategic services and support.

Medidata already attained its first accreditation for Medidata Rave, the industry's leading electronic data capture (EDC) and clinical data management (CDM) solution, ACRONET plans to implement Rave in at least 15 trials over the next two years.

“Medidata's focus on developing solutions that solve critical challenges for sponsors at every point in the clinical research process is well-aligned with our corporate strategy as well as the goals of our customers,” said Hiroyuki Daimon, general manager of ACRONET's clinical IT system department. “In addition to expanding our clinical development capabilities and strengthening our IT solutions, we also expect to benefit from Medidata's strong global presence and broad market demand.”

Since 1969, ACRONET has provided a range of global clinical development IT services, including monitoring, data management, statistical analysis and clinical study report creation. As the company evolved its EDC strategy, ACRONET identified Medidata Rave as a critical solution that would improve study efficiency, reduce time throughout the trial process and leverage CDISC standards to easily integrate with other systems. In addition to strengthening relationships with sponsors and sites, ACRONET expects its partnership with Medidata and its Rave accreditation to play a key role the company's ability to increase ROI, expand global reach and uncover new business opportunities.

“ACRONET has a long history of providing high-quality solutions and services to sponsors and distinguishing themselves as a leader in driving clinical development technology initiatives,” said Graham Bunn, vice president of partnerships, Medidata Solutions. “With this partnership, we look forward to working with ACRONET to strengthen Medidata Rave's footprint in the Asia-Pac region and build on the growing momentum around our full suite of products.”

ACRONET is also considering the other seven accreditations offered by the Medidata Partner Programme, which will enable it to further expand the Medidata-related services that it provides to customers. Medidata first announced its channel partner programme in April 2005 to enable select CROs and other service providers to offer services in support of Medidata products. Since then, the programme has grown to include about 30 partners, ranging from smaller clinical consultancies to large, global CROs.

ACRONET provides a broad range of clinical development services including clinical monitoring, data management and statistical analysis, and is committed to helping spur the development of anticancer and CNS drugs.

Medidata Solutions is a leading global provider of SaaS clinical development solutions that enhance the efficiency of customers' clinical trials.