MADISON, Wis. (May 20, 2010) – An extensive search for an integrated clinical research management system came to an end in February when Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC) selected the OnCore(r) system.

“At some level, we’ve been looking for a product over a decade,” said Jeffrey W. Clark, MD, Medical Director of Clinical Trials Operations at DF/HCC, and one of the people who helped spearhead the search for a new system. Unfortunately, a system that was sophisticated enough to handle the complexity of Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center’s seven-institution consortium did not exist until recently.

“In many ways, we had gone as far as we could in improving the operation. What was really missing were the integrated systems that would give us the automation, information, and management decision making tools to take our clinical trials program to the next level,” said Beverly Ginsburg-Cooper, MBA, Associate Director for Administration at DF/HCC and Senior VP for Research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, who coordinated the Cancer Center’s formal effort to evaluate systems this past year.

Currently, DF/HCC uses informatics to support its clinical research operation. However, these systems are not fully integrated and there are opportunities to eliminate the duplication of effort and enhance the flow of data.

“We’re honored to be working with Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center,” said Srini Kalluri, President & CEO of PercipEnz Technologies, Inc., the creator of OnCore. “Over the past ten years, not only has OnCore evolved to address the complex needs of large clinical research enterprises like Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, but also, PercipEnz has achieved an organizational maturity in terms of processes and people to be able to undertake such large implementations. We are pleased to see the high caliber team DF/HCC has dedicated to their OnCore implementation, and we are quite confident that, working collaboratively with this outstanding group of people, we can ensure a highly successful implementation.”

DF/HCC is comprised of seven separate independent institutions that function as a cohesive consortium. The center has a unified clinical trials structure with a single IRB, a single Protocol Review and Monitoring System, a single Data Safety and Monitoring Process, a single set of operating policies and procedures, and a centralized clinical trials infrastructure to support these functions. Additionally, the center has coordinated budgeting and contracting processes. But, each institution coordinates its own data management activities independently.
Immediately, the goal is to start using OnCore for all of the centralized administrative functions at DF/HCC. Additionally, there are several existing systems in place at the center that are under consideration for direct integration with OnCore. DF/HCC will also be identifying any critical functionality they would like to see added to OnCore.

Working Together to Improve Cancer Research and Care

PercipEnz’s reputation for service and responsiveness played a role in DF/HCC’s final decision to select the OnCore product. “Beyond any existing differences in features and functionality among the various systems we evaluated, service and the OnCore user community were a compelling factor in our decision,” said Ginsburg-Cooper.

The implementation of OnCore was kicked-off earlier this month at DF/HCC, and the center has already started participating in user community events and activities through Onsemble, a community comprised of OnCore users and others concerned with improving clinical research operations.

“With one of the largest Bone Marrow Transplant programs in the country, it is a priority and responsibility of Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center to work together with the other cancer centers to develop a product that will benefit us all,” said Ginsburg-Cooper.

“In the end, we are all here to help people with cancer, and 30 different research centers should not have to reinvent the wheel over and over again,” said Clark.

About the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center

Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC) is the largest NCI-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, bringing together the cancer research efforts of seven member institutions: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital Boston, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Public Health, and Massachusetts General Hospital.

DF/HCC has joined these seven renowned Harvard-affiliated institutions into one collective force dedicated to the fight against cancer. Based in Boston, DF/HCC consists of more than 1,000 researchers with a singular goal — to find new and innovative ways to combat cancer.

For more information about DF/HCC visit its website: http://www.dfhcc.harvard.edu.