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Radiant Sage, a developer of software for drug discovery and research, has introduced a software-as-a-service (SaaS) enterprise version of its Core-Lab-in-a-Box application that allows researchers discovering new pharmaceutical drugs to combine image data from multiple trials in a single database.
Enterprise Core-Lab-in-a-Box is the first SaaS application to allow for management of medical imaging data without a need to install software or purchase hardware, Ven Thangaraj, founder and adviser for Radiant Sage, told eWEEK.
With trial sponsors in life sciences, pharmaceuticals and biotech often juggling data from both in-house and outsourced trials, the software will help them standardize storage for the data, Mallik Penamatsa, chief operating officer at Radiant Sage, added.
Researchers can host their data internally or on an external cloud. Integrating information from multiple trials in a single repository could make R&D more productive and reduce trial costs, Penamatsa told eWEEK.
“What we’re going for now is for us to provide clients with a singular solution where things such as status reporting and metrics could be reported across trials and also some of the standards could be reused rather than re-created,” Thangaraj said.
A primary feature of the software is to store medical images from multiple trials, according to Thangaraj. “The main use of this product is to manage medical image data such as MRIs and CTs as they’re used in clinical trials to show the efficacy of a drug in process,” he said.
The software allows for storage, distribution, analysis and publishing of medical images. In addition, the application supports Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) and non-DICOM image formats. DICOM is a standard for distributing and viewing medical images.
Researchers use the application to ensure that they capture the correct images and data from clinical trials, Penamatsa said. They then distribute the images to radiologists, so they can add their comments before the images return to the repository.
With the enterprise version of Core-Lab-in-a-Box, announced on Oct. 11, Radiant Sage is looking to transition analysis of imaging in trials from traditional outsourced trials at imaging core labs such as Bioclinica and CCBR-Synarc to a SaaS application such as Core-Lab-in-a-Box, Penamatsa said.
Imaging core labs provide assessment of images such as MRIs and CT scans for clinical trials.
“Traditionally anything to do with clinical image management was outsourced by sponsors to what are called imaging core labs,” Penamatsa said. Under the SaaS model, researchers could maintain more control over the clinical trials, he suggested.
“What Radiant Sage is trying to do is change that model by giving other options which are heavily technology driven to the sponsors so that they don’t have to go with resource-intensive solutions that the imaging core labs are offering today,” Penamatsa said.
Outsourcing to imaging core labs is more expensive with longer timelines, he added. The SaaS option will provide more control over clinical trials, according to Penamatsa.
In the enterprise version, IT departments can manage use of the software, he said. “Being able to use [the software] for multiple trials under the same license means economy of scale,” Penamatsa explained.
The application has a data dictionary to help standardize terminology across trials. Other features include real-time tracking and audit trails as well as online collaboration tools.
In addition, the product supports advanced search querying. One search could be “all males over 40 that have shown disease progression within 60 days,” Thangaraj explained.