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BIO and ViS Research Expand Research Site Group to Help Streamline Pediatric Clinical Trials

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<em>Pediatric research is essential to study the effects of new therapeutics in children</em></p>

Washington D.C., May 7, 2014 – The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and ViS Research (ViS) announce the expansion of its Pediatric Clinical Research Group on the ViS platform to include pediatric research sites.

Last year, BIO and ViS launched this initiative to improve the efficiency of clinical development for pediatric therapeutics.  BIO and its member companies work with ViS to use its online analytics platform to evaluate global pediatric clinical research infrastructure, identify pediatric patient populations, and empower clinical research collaboration.

The aim of the initiative is to help member companies more efficiently assess the global pediatric clinical research landscape and to engage sites more easily for pediatric clinical studies. It also will enable a comprehensive mapping of the pediatric patient population, with live feeds of local patient demographics. It aims to reduce the site burden from feasibility assessments and decrease site start-up time.

“Our partnership with ViS Research Institute is helping streamline pediatric clinical research worldwide,” said BIO President and CEO Jim Greenwood. “ViS Analytics will help drug developers identify pediatric research sites, making it faster and easier to conduct pediatric clinical trials and, ultimately, deliver treatments and cures to children suffering from life threatening and debilitating diseases.”

“Innovative research approaches through analytics are needed to improve success in these most challenging pediatric drug development programs with more timely access for these new drugs in children,” said Dr. Ron Portman, Immediate Past Chair of BIO’s Pediatrics Committee.

The U.S. FDA and European Medicines Agency require pediatric development plans before approval of new therapeutics. Drug developers have difficulty finding qualified sites that can recruit patients for pediatric trials.

Approximately 60% of the disease burden for high priority conditions like schizophrenia, depression, malaria, and HIV/Aids, is borne by children, though only about 12% of clinical trials are pediatric, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. 

About BIO

BIO is the world's largest trade association representing biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across the United States and in more than 30 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of innovative healthcare, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products. BIO also produces the BIO International Convention, the world’s largest gathering of the biotechnology industry, along with industry-leading investor and partnering meetings held around the world. BIOtechNOW is BIO's blog chronicling “innovations transforming our world” and the BIO Newsletter is the organization’s bi-weekly email newsletter. Subscribe to the BIO Newsletter.

About ViS Research

ViS Research optimizes clinical trial planning through a structured online feasibility platform. It transforms how locations, sites and investigators are evaluated for inclusion in clinical trials. The ViS platform enables the more than 400,000 disease-specific research sites and 330,000 investigators worldwide to efficiently display their capabilities, while providing multi-dimensional analytics about the locations where the sites operate. ViS Research was created as a global enterprise in 2010, connecting traditional and emerging markets through regional hubs in New York City, São Paulo, Mumbai, and Frankfurt am Main.

Media contact for BIO: Tracy Cooley, Senior Director of Communications: tcooley@bio.org, +1 202 312 9274

Media contact for ViS: James Rosenstein, Head of Global Communications: james.rosenstein@visresearch.com, +1 917 715 2820

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