OpenClinica Targets National Cancer Institute’s caBIG Silver-level Compatibility

CAMBRIDGE, MA — MAY 31, 2006 — Akaza Research is pleased to announce that its next release of OpenClinica, codenamed “Sterling”, will be one of the first clinical research management tools to target silver-level compatibility under the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Bioinformatics Grid (caBIG) initiative. caBIG is a major initiative of the National Cancer Institute to create a “World Wide Web of cancer research” with the stated goal “to eliminate death and suffering due to cancer by the year 2015”.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for OpenClinica and for cancer research”, said Cal Collins, Akaza Research’s President. “The cancer research community is already starting to reap the benefits of the Cancer Bioinformatics Grid. Because caBIG has embraced principles of open source and open standards, we can deliver our open source clinical trials platform, OpenClinica, in a way that adds materially to this value.”

OpenClinica’s Senior Product Coordinator, Tom Hickerson, said, “The National Cancer Institute is on the forefront of using technology to accelerate the progress of cancer research. With caBIG, the National Cancer Institute has recognized the need for systems to become more interoperable in order to deliver the productivity that modern science demands. OpenClinica ‘Sterling’ will provide the adaptability that such a task requires. OpenClinica enables sponsors and investigators to manage clinical trials in multi-site studies. It is this inherent flexibility of the system that enables OpenClinica to evolve so rapidly and to be deployed effectively in an integrated research environment,” Mr. Hickerson added.

The cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid™, or caBIG™, is a voluntary network or grid connecting individuals and institutions to enable the sharing of data and tools, creating a World Wide Web of cancer research. The goal is to speed the delivery of innovative approaches for the prevention and treatment of cancer. The infrastructure and tools created by caBIG™ also have broad utility outside the cancer community. caBIG™ is being developed under the leadership of the National Cancer Institute's Center for Bioinformatics. Additional information on caBIG compatibility may be found at https://cabig.nci.nih.gov/guidelines_documentation.

Akaza Research, a leading provider of open source clinical trial software, is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Akaza has developed and commercialized OpenClinica, the preeminent open source clinical trial data collection and management software platform. Akaza brings Open Source Software solutions into the mainstream of the clinical research enterprise by making high quality, standards-based systems accessible for private and public research. Akaza Research provides support, training, and consulting services to its customers worldwide. See www.akazaresearch.com.

OpenClinica™ is an open source web-based software platform that enables sponsors and investigators to manage clinical research data in multi-site studies. It facilitates protocol configuration, design of case report forms, electronic data capture, and study/data management. OpenClinica supports HIPAA and 21 CFR Part 11 guidelines and is designed as a strictly standards-based, extensible, and modular platform. OpenClinica v1.0 was released in October 2005 under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). See www.OpenClinica.org. OpenClinica 2.0 is scheduled to be released to beta testers this summer.

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MEDIA CONTACT: Steve Glines, sglines@industrialmyth.com, 978-952-6340

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