CRO Datapharm to team with e-diary firm

Australian contract research organisation Datapharm has entered into a strategic alliance with Brussels and Cambridge based Symfo, a specialist in electronic diary solutions for patients.

Symfo will provide Datapharm's customers with its suite of products, which include the SymPro electronic patient diary, the SymQuest Palm-based diary and the SymVoice IVR, while Datapharm will provide local support services for Symfo's Australian clients.

Symfo's technology allows study participants to send data from an electronic diary by picking up their household telephone handset, dialling a toll-free number and placing the e-diary next to the receiver, removing the need for patients to have a modem. Sounds from a patient's electronic diary are turned into encrypted data that are received by a server. Depending on the amount of data, the transmission takes about two minutes, Datapharm said.

Symfo's Palm-based diary is an FDA-compliant capture tool that allows doctors to collect clinical trial data on site and view it on the web.