Merge Healthcare Clinical Trials Division Forms Alliance With AG Mednet

Delivers First-to-Market Solutions to Manage Imaging Clinical Trials Worldwide

CHICAGO, March 20, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Merge Healthcare (Nasdaq:MRGE), a leading provider of enterprise imaging and interoperability solutions and clinical trials software announced a partnership with AG Mednet, a global medical image collection and delivery service, to provide life sciences companies with a full suite of tools to manage imaging clinical trials worldwide.

The solution integrates AG Mednet’s image collection platform with Merge Healthcare’s Clinical Imaging Management System (Merge CIMS) to enable higher quality images and data flow directly into Merge’s CIMS and electronic data capture (EDC) solutions. This integration marks the first time a turnkey solution for imaging core labs and sponsors provides an end-to-end solution to assemble, de-identify and deliver complete submissions to trial repositories, resulting in significant query reductions and increased submission quality.

“This alliance creates the first complete infrastructure and feature set required by both commercial and academic core labs to carry out all the necessary logistics in support of clinical trials,” said Dr. Jeffrey Popma, Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Director, Angiographic Core Laboratory, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

“The market has been asking for a best-in-class, flexible platform that provides collection, delivery and trial management functions,” said Jeff Surges, CEO, Merge Healthcare. “We’re excited to offer this solution to the market, and to already have five studies underway with large pharma companies utilizing the combined Merge/AG Mednet platform.”

“Merge’s extensive experience with PACS, specialized viewers and EDC systems is the perfect platform to receive high-quality images and transmittal form data from sites connected to AG Mednet’s network,” said Abraham Gutman, President and CEO of AG Mednet.

Merge CIMS is the first automated data and imaging workflow solution that enables radiology experts, sponsors and CROs to more efficiently execute the imaging portion of a clinical trial. In addition to providing real-time access to study imaging and data information, Merge CIMS provides improved data quality, study performance, and decision-making ability while integrating best-of-breed EDC, PACS, image analysis and image transport technologies.  Overall, the integration of imaging and clinical trials solutions provides key stakeholders with the advanced, efficient and accurate tools they need to perform mission critical tasks.

About Merge Healthcare

Merge Healthcare is a leading provider of eClinical software and services that optimizes the clinical trial process for pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and contract research organizations. Merge’s solutions combine innovative tools and services with consultative expertise to effectively and efficiently capture, manage and deploy high-quality data – making access to actionable intelligence much faster and resulting in a reduced pathway to a successful study endpoint. Merge has facilitated over 1,800 trials involving more than 1 million patients in 80 countries, and has participated in 42 studies used for 14 new drug applications.

About AG Mednet

AG Mednet, which provides the largest HIPAA and 21 CFR Part 11 / GxP compliant image collection, de-identification and delivery service, enhances the quality of image submissions and significantly reduces administrative queries in imaging trials. With over 10,000 registered users in 58 countries, AG Mednet’s de-identification and eCRF capabilities, coupled with its global managed network enhances site protocol compliance while providing detailed reporting for regulatory requirements.

   

Categories