Atrium Medical Center selects Sopheon’s Accolade solution to manage Clinical Trials and Innovation Projects.
Software Will Support Compliance with New European-Union Clinical Trial Regulations and Help Ensure Projects Are Executed Efficiently and On Time

Sopheon, the international provider of solutions that improve the return from innovation and product development, announces that Atrium Medical Center, one of the largest general hospitals in the Netherlands, is deploying Sopheon’s Accolade solution to support implementation of a structured process for comprehensive management of clinical trials. Use of the software is expected to help Atrium enhance management of trials activity and ensure compliance with the latest European Union (EU) clinical research regulations. Accolade will also be used by the hospital to manage innovation projects, including major capital investment initiatives.

"Pharmaceutical companies judge our clinical-trial work by the quality of the results and the speed and cost-effectiveness with which those results are delivered," said Dr. Graham Ramsay of Atrium’s board. "Patients depend upon our ability to effect the right kinds of innovation and make the right capital investments to ensure that they receive the best available care. Sopheon’s software will integrate our processes for managing clinical trials and innovation projects, making those processes more stable, predictable and efficient."

The hospital is deploying Accolade at its facilities in Heerlen, Kerkrade and Brunssum. Atrium conducts approximately 70 clinical trials per year for leading pharmaceutical companies. It is anticipated that use of the software system, which will eventually handle as many as 240 trials at one time, will increase clinical-trials revenue by enabling faster trial preparation and execution, higher quality results and improved service to clients. Sopheon also worked closely with Atrium to configure Accolade to fit a new, jointly-developed process incorporating elements of the Six Sigma manufacturing methodology that will be applied to management of innovation initiatives.

Accolade will replace the manual, paper-based process structure that Atrium previously used to manage clinical trials with a reliable, easy-to-use Web-based framework for everything from tracking schedules and budgets to assessing and allocating resources, conducting financial analyses and examining trial results. The system provides hospital executives, managers, clinical trial coordinators, doctors and researchers with the information support required for tactical, day-to-day management activity as well as for strategic, longer-term business decision-making. Atrium plans to extend access to the system to pharmaceutical clients interested in checking on the status of trial projects involving their products.

Sopheon’s CEO Andy Michuda said:
"Clinical trial management is a critical step in the cycle that moves pharmaceutical products from conception and development to safe adoption in the marketplace. It’s estimated that, in the United States alone, approximately 80,000 clinical trials are being conducted at any one time. The scale of opportunity associated with effecting improvements in this area is great. Accolade’s capacity to reduce the expense and inefficiency of the clinical trial process has led to its adoption by some of the leading clinical hospitals in the world. Atrium is one such leader, and a prime example of how forward thinking healthcare providers are harnessing technology to benefit stakeholders throughout the value chain."