Clinical Trial Excellence: Winning Top Investigators in a Competitive Marketplace.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- "Doing your homework" captures what 45 world-class pharmaceutical and biotech companies, CROs and Clinical Investigation Sites describe as the key contributor to successful recruitment of top investigators. In its new 2004 study pharmaceutical research and consulting firm Best Practices, LLC identified best practices, tactics and tools used by industry leaders to recruit clinical investigators in a competitive marketplace.

The comprehensive report, Clinical Trial Excellence: The Science & Art of Winning Investigators in a Competitive Marketplace, details best practices and managerial insights used by top companies to effectively recruit top talent for clinical trials. To purchase this study or to download a report excerpt, visit to http://www3.best-in-class.com/rr455.htm.

Among its findings, the study shows practices that top performers consistently employ:

--Relying on multiple sources, including external and internal sources, to identify top talent

--Building and using databases efficiently and aligning them with your website to draw investigators

--Using your website, toll-free phone lines, word-of-mouth and scientific meetings as ways for investigators to self-identify themselves for new trials

--Engaging more investigators effectively in protocol design and testing

--Productivity tactics to enhance patient yields per site

--Optimal times to commence physician recruitment

--New assessment techniques to evaluate site performance worthiness, viability

--Segmentation techniques to profile physicians and site viability

--Epidemiological mapping to align investigation sites with disease occurrence

The findings in the report are drawn from in-depth interviews and surveys of executives at leading companies, including AstraZeneca, Covance, Baxter Healthcare, Bristol-Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, Human Genome Sciences, Pfizer, PPD, Roche, and many more.

The report includes specific examples, more than 180 metrics, and recommendations on how to identify and close performance gaps. Additionally, this study reveals how your organization can:

--Increase the attractiveness and credibility of studies through effective positioning

--Identify key opinion leaders and investigators for protocol design input and clinical trials

--Evaluate the commitment and qualifications of these investigators

--Create effective structures for both internal and external accountability

--Partner with third parties to leverage clinical trial expertise

To download a complementary report summary of Clinical Trial Excellence: The Science & Art of Winning Investigators in a Competitive Marketplace visit http://www3.best-in-class.com/rr455.htm.

For more information, contact Dorris Huffstetler at [phone] or at [e-mail].

ABOUT BEST PRACTICES, LLC

Best Practices, LLC is a research and consulting firm that conducts work based on the simple yet profound principle that organizations can chart a course to superior economic performance by studying the best business practices, operating tactics and winning strategies of world-class companies. For more information about Best Practices, LLC, call [phone] or visit the corporate web site at http://www.best-in-class.com.