LifeTree Expands EDC Partnership with Premier Research for Global Patient Registry.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

TEMECULA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 13, 2004

LifeTree Technology LLC, a member of the FFF Enterprises family of companies, has completed an agreement with Premier Research, a division of CRC Development Ltd., to expand use of LifeTree's electronic data capture (EDC) system for execution of a major, multi-year Phase IV patient registry funded by an Aventis Pharma grant. LifeTree's EDC platform, ICTM, is being used to collect information about patients at treatment sites involved in the global Phase IV registry. Premier Research is providing data coordination, validation and reporting.

The patient registry project, called GRACE, the Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events (www.umassmed.edu/outcomes/grace), is a prospective, multi-national, observational registry that is collecting data on acute coronary event patients. Since 1999, Premier Research has gathered data from more than 90 core patient treatment sites in 14 countries on four continents, with an expanded group of 120 additional hospitals actively participating.

Use of LifeTree ICTM was initiated last year with targeted sites. The new agreement will support the expanded GRACE project, a new registry in which all of the sites will use the EDC system. It is anticipated that there will be over 100 sites enrolled, and in excess of 10,000 electronic case report forms generated over the next five years.

"The strategic decision to create an exclusively EDC-driven registry is a strong affirmation of the advantages of using electronic data capture and the practicality of LifeTree's platform to facilitate global studies," said Bruce Maloff, Ph.D., chief clinical officer for LifeTree and FFF Enterprises. "We are pleased to expand our contribution to this vital program, and accelerate the capture of data that will be used for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with acute coronary syndrome."

LifeTree is a member of the FFF Enterprises family of companies, with headquarters in Temecula. LifeTree delivers a Web-based electronic data capture system, for clinical trials, patient registries and surveillance projects, that puts the power of EDC in the users' hands.