Pfizer's Virtual Trial: Open-source Meets Old Pharma

Drug giant Pfizer revealed more details of its all-electronic clinical trial at the DIA's 47th annual show here, going to great lengths to acknowledge its partners in the endeavor and to credit collaboration for the achievements to date.

The news sounds big coming from a big pharma, especially given that the FDA is onboard. Pfizer's head of clinical innovation Craig Lipset took pains to appreciate the regulatory and Institutional Review Board input his project has received. And he acknowledged the contributions of partners Steven Cummings of Mytrus, which provided the front-end tech build-out of the investigator sites; Cameron Robertson, business development manager at Exco intouch, provider of the mobile e-diary equipment; Perceptive Informatics, for its back-end technology work; and the University of California investigational team.

"It's hardly Pfizer's technology," said Lipset, sounding less like a Big Pharma practitioner and more like an open source advocate. "We don't believe Pfizer owns this approach. We want to see greater uptake in the wider community." He said he believes the model can scale internally and perhaps eventually be used as modules in conventional studies in a form of "disruptive new medicine."