OpenClinica has entered into a strategic alliance with Athena Healthcare Consultancy to bring the OpenClinica clinical trials software to the Chinese market. Headquartered in Shanghai, Athena will be the exclusive distributor of the OpenClinica enterprise edition and provide localized support and services for contract research organizations, pharmaceutical companies, and scientific institutes operating in China, according to Digital Journal.

As the world’s fastest growing clinical trial software, OpenClinica provides web-based electronic data capture and clinical data management functions that are increasingly critical to conducting efficient clinical trials in today’s highly regulated research environments.

Ben Baumann, OpenClinica’s director of business development, says “For the past 6 years OpenClinica has been used in FDA regulated clinical trials. We are excited to bring this world-class technology to China, which is increasing its standards for clinical research.”

While China has its own rapidly growing biopharmaceuticals industry, global clinical trial sponsors are increasing their amount of research being conducted in China. Improving regulations, a large patient population, and capable and motivated investigators are some of the factors that make China an increasingly appealing place to conduct research.

Athena Healthcare Consultancy general manager Ivan Tjong-A-Hung, MD says, “This alliance will allow us to better support China’s growing pharmaceutical and biotech research industries with a complete, fully localized solution for running clinical trials more productivity and according to global standard good clinical practices.”