IFPMA Creates "MyPortal" To Allow Users To Request E-mail Alerts When New Clinical Trials In Specified Areas Are Posted On The Web

Main Category: IT / Internet / E-mail
Also Included In: Clinical Trials / Drug Trials
Article Date: 31 Jan 2008 - 4:00 PDT

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The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA) has further improved the ease-of-use of its Clinical Trials Portal . The main new feature is "MyPortal", which allows users to record search criteria, to simplify repeat searches and to request e-mail alerts when new trials are posted that match criteria they have specified. To make information found by the Portal more readily understandable, explanations in everyday language are now available for technical expressions, via convenient mouse-over-activated text balloons. The entire portal interface has been redesigned for greater clarity and the display of search results has been refined, to help users find trials of interest more quickly.

Dr. Harvey Bale, IFPMA Director General, said: "Patients, especially those with serious long-term conditions, have an interest to keep themselves informed about trials of new candidate medicines, as do their treating physicians. "MyPortal" will make it easier for them to do so. The improvements to the Portal that we are unveiling today confirm the IFPMA's determination to translate clinical trials transparency into a more accessible, practical self-help health tool for patients and doctors."

The IFPMA Clinical Trials Portal (CTP) provides an easy-to-use, single point of access to a comprehensive array of online information about ongoing clinical trials sponsored by R&D-based pharmaceutical companies, and summary results of completed trials. The source sites accessed by the CTP include http://www.ClinicalStudyResults.org (sponsored by the US industry association PhRMA), http://www.ClinicalTrials.gov (sponsored by the US National Institutes of Health), http://www.controlled-trials.com (set up by Science Navigation Group), http://www.clinicaltrials.jp (sponsored by the Japanese industry association JPMA) and http://www.cmrinteract.com/clintrial/ (by CMR International and the UK industry association ABPI). Most companies post their trial registration details and results on these centralized sites, but some have elected to post this information them on their own, so the portal also links to 13 company sites.

The CTP was launched in September 2005, in English with a simple search interface. In a second stage of development unveiled in March 2006, French, German, Japanese and Spanish language interfaces were added, along with an advanced search facility, designed to make it easier to perform multiple criteria searches, including by geographical location. In May 2007, the IFPMA demonstrated a technology package that facilitates provision of access to the Portal via other Internet sites in other languages. This feature was pioneered in collaboration with the Swedish-language medicines website http://www.fass.se.

About the IFPMA

The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation representing national industry associations and companies from both developed and developing countries. Member companies of the IFPMA are research-based pharmaceutical, biotech and vaccine companies.

International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations