WCG has purchased VeraSci, an eClinical software provider that supports the design and execution of central nervous system (CNS) disorder trials.

VeraSci uses innovative solutions to improve the quality of data in CNS trials and enable virtual capabilities, including endpoint and assessment services, trial rater training and certification, language and translation services and electronic clinical outcome assessment (eCOA)/electronic patient-reported outcome (ePRO) technologies. The company’s experience runs the gamut of CNS clinical trials from single-site phase 1 studies to global phase 3 studies.

According to Lindsay McNair, chief medical officer of WCG, the average development time for CNS disorder drugs takes 20 percent longer than drugs for other indications. In addition, CNS drugs take 38 percent longer, on average, to earn regulatory approval, she said. These longer times stem mainly from limitations in understanding the underlying disease and in identifying/measuring appropriate endpoints, McNair said.

“[VeraSci’s] combined experience and expertise in clinical psychology, neuroscience, clinical pharmacology and regulatory science, with particular emphasis on technology-enabled, remote endpoint assessments, will be extremely valuable to clients and, more broadly, our industry, as we work together to enable advances in CNS treatments, which improvements in the clinical trial process have tremendous potential to accelerate,” McNair said.

VeraSci will be renamed WCG VeraSci going forward, with its leadership structure and Durham headquarters remaining unchanged.