Symfo announces that AstraZeneca has successfully completed a large-scale project using one of its ediary solutions
Today Symfo, a leading provider of handheld electronic patient diary (EPD) products for clinical trials, announces that AstraZeneca Farmaceutica SA (Spain) has successfully completed a project using the SymPro (Symfo Patient Reported Outcome Diary) involving more than 8,500 patients, 3,000 sites, and 1,300,000 downloaded data elements. This project was part of a 12-month multi-centre international post-marketing project.
(PRWEB) September 21, 2004
The SymPro ediary and SymPort (the Symfo web-based reporting and management portal) were used to record each patient data for 4 weeks and to capture critical self-reported information about the efficiency of Symbicort® and Rilast® and to provide baseline information about patients’ habits. The patients received the SymPro at their doctors’ offices. They were required to record every symptom and dose of medication taken at the time an event occurred. Patients downloaded the recorded encrypted data through a unique wireless transmission (audio coupling with phone line). Patients performed this transfer once a week and the results were e-mailed to the authorized investigators for their review.
“We’re pleased to be continuing and further developing our collaboration with AstraZeneca,” said Serge Bodart, CEO of Symfo. “SymPro is a small, portable device that allows patients to record data in real time and send it using a standard telephone. The most innovative feature of the Symfo EPD solution is that it allows the transmission of patient data without wires using a standard telephone and Symfo’s innovative audio technology. Symfo’s validated web-based platform allows the sponsors to check patient data online as required. The SymPro device itself is very durable, and is far less expensive than a traditional PDA. We are very pleased to have achieved such a high compliance rate in this large-scale project.”
“We decided to work with Symfo (this was an international decision throughout countries) because we believe that they offer an innovative method for the daily monitoring of patients, a high technological added value, cost-effective and an easy to use diary, as well as superior user training and support services (audio data transmission, possibility to send e-mails with the results to the investigators, help desk in Spanish, etc.). Symfo has demonstrated through this project its efficiency. They offer a powerful web interface, highly competitive prices, and a talented project team. This project has successfully helped to enhance the benefits of Symbicort® and Rilast® in current medical practices among the medical community,” said Andrès Lafuente, Group Product Manager of AstraZeneca.
As the need for electronic patient diaries continues to grow, Symfo is convinced that its EPD solutions, including SymPro, SymQuest, SymVoice, and SymWeb, already used by thousands of patients internationally, are meeting and exceeding the market needs.
About SYMFO: (www. symfo. com)
Symfo is an international organization specializing in electronic patient diary solutions, including the SymPro electronic patient diary, the SymQuest Palm-based audio diary and the SymVoice IVR. They are all simple to use and affordable solutions enabling study participants to easily implement electronic patient diaries in all phases of clinical trials and post-marketing studies.
The method of audio transfer used by the Symfo solutions is the most reliable and easiest data transfer solution available in the market today. In fact, audio transmission is used regularly in hospitals to send data such as EKG data. To transmit data, the study subject simply picks up the handset of a regular household telephone, dials a toll-free number, places the ediary device next to the receiver and presses a button. The server answers the call using sounds that are interpreted by the ediaries, which in turn sends data. The entire transmission takes about one to three minutes, depending on the amount of data. Since the study participant dials a toll-free number, there is no charge to him or her to send data. The sponsor pays on a per-call basis. There is no additional modem equipment to purchase. Symfo, with offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Brussels, Belgium, is the only vendor to currently offer this innovative data transmission option.
For more details please contact:
Erik Falvey
Sales Director
Symfo, Inc.
American Twine Office Park
222 Third Street, Suite 0342
Cambridge, MA 02142 - USA
Telephone: (617) 577-9484
Email: erik. falvey@symfo. com
About AstraZeneca: (www. astrazeneca. com)
AstraZeneca is a major international healthcare business engaged in the research, development, manufacture and marketing of prescription pharmaceuticals and the supply of healthcare services. It is one of the worldÂ’s leading pharmaceutical companies with healthcare sales of over $18.8 billion and leading positions in sales of gastrointestinal, oncology, cardiovascular, neuroscience and respiratory products. In the United States, AstraZeneca is an $8.7 billion healthcare business with more than 11,000 employees.
AstraZeneca is listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (Global and European) as well as the FTSE4Good Index.
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