DIA in DC: Hot Inside and Out

The steamy summer heat in Washington, DC, was no match for the hothouse of ideas and innovations on display at the recent 46th Annual DIA Meeting. The event was well attended by all levels of Life Sciences professionals. Because this premier event for the pharmaceutical & biotech industry draws the industry’s best minds from around the world, it was no surprise that many of the discussions in the hallways, meeting rooms and social events revolved around the increasingly global nature of clinical trials. The impact of this expansion is already being felt — and a lot of the talk was about how this will play out in the future.

Tapping into new patient populations and regulatory environments in emerging markets is a key strategy for CROs and Pharma companies both large and small. Increased focus on outsourced and collaborative research by using bench science partners in these emerging markets was also causing a buzz around the building. The question on everyone's mind seemed to be how to effectively manage these growing global research, clinical and collaborative efforts in an efficient, secure and timely manner.

Naturally, many attendees spent their time seeking out solutions to help improve their day to day processes and ultimately improve the way their organizations safely and effectively release drugs to market. And that’s where IntraLinks came in. IntraLinks has been providing solutions to the Life Sciences industry for more than a decade, facilitating in-licensing and out-licensing deals for many of the largest pharma companies in the world. Although IntraLinks has made a name in the pharmaceutical world, many industry professionals on the clinical side of the business have not yet realized the benefits of instituting a secure, SaaS-based, scalable solution for critical clinical and safety document exchange.

During the DIA conference we had a chance to showcase the newest features we've added to our document exchange solution. Specifically, the enhancements provide safety teams managing the reporting of Serious Adverse Events (SAEs) and the distribution of safety letters around the world an easy-to-use, secure, scalable and instantaneous means to share information quickly and effectively. IntraLinks' Safety Document Exchange solution includes configurable rules-based automated workflow, intuitive organization and user-based views, and detailed compliance reporting. All necessary components to ensure the proper communication of highly sensitive safety related incidents.

In an ever growing global clinical research environment, where the information being shared is both critical and sensitive, it's not surprising that the professionals responsible for exchanging this information are concerned about risks and are seeking solutions. The benefits to expanding clinical research to places like China, India and Brazil are many but can also be fraught with obstacles. It was clear during the conference that finding cost-effective, globally scalable and efficient ways to exchange critical documents required to ensure patient safety and to ultimately provide life saving drugs to the public is a main focus for the industry this year and for years to come.

One of the events at DIA held at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC