Cerner, a global innovator in electronic health record (EHR) and research technology, and global CRO Icon have formed an agreement to provide pharmaceutical and device sponsors with late-phase research technology to streamline the collection of information related to the safety, effectiveness and value of their medical products.

As healthcare models continue to evolve, late-phase research studies play a key role by providing additional assurance of product safety, comparative effectiveness, awareness of potential expanded indications for use and an understanding of the impact on patient outcomes and quality of life.

Icon selected Cerner’s Discovere Late Phase solution as its system of choice for its late-phase projects after an extensive evaluation process.

“Discovere Late Phase is a highly scalable and flexible platform that is able to support late phase study management and provides sponsors with the ability to capture research data across multiple research sites,” said Elizabeth Thiele, president of late phase and outcomes research division for Icon. “Cerner's web-based research solution was built to accommodate the diversity of late-phase studies, an improvement over other technologies that may have been retro-fitted from cumbersome legacy systems.”

Discovere Late Phase reduces the time required to start late-phase studies, provides sites with an easy-to-use system for compiling data and expedites the reporting of valuable data back to sponsors and regulators. The solution can also integrate into the EHR workflow, giving site researchers the ability to electronically transcribe study-relevant data from the EHR directly into the online study forms. Additionally, the system supports the capture of participant surveys and patient-reported outcomes through its integrated electronic patient-reported outcomes (ePRO) capabilities.

“Combining Icon’s expertise in study management with Cerner’s late-phase technology will greatly benefit study sponsors,” said Mark Hoffman, Ph.D., vice president of Cerner Research. “We look forward to ongoing collaboration with Icon focused on improving research and minimizing barriers to research participation.”