Innovators Recognized for Business and Societal Impact; 34 Visionary Companies Honored from Among 320 Applicants
WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 4, 2008--Phase
Forward (NASDAQ: PFWD), a leading provider of data management
solutions for clinical trials and drug safety, today announced that it
has been selected as a Technology Pioneer 2009 by the World
Economic Forum. More than 320 companies from around the world
submitted applications, which were evaluated by 44 global technology
experts. Phase Forward was selected as one of 34 companies that were
honored by the Forum.
The World Economic Forum characterizes Technology
Pioneers as innovators of the highest caliber, whose technologies
will have a deep impact on business and society. By virtue of the honor,
Phase Forward Chairman, President and CEO Robert Weiler has been invited
to participate in the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009 in
Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, to be held January 28 to February 1.
"It is a great honor for Phase Forward to be recognized by an
organization whose mission is nothing less than improving the state of
the world," said Weiler. "On behalf of the Phase Forward team, we enter
2009 with a renewed sense of purpose to work with our customers to get
life-changing therapies to market more quickly and safely."
"We congratulate the 34 newly selected Technology Pioneers for their
remarkable achievements and welcome them to the wider community of the
World Economic Forum. During these difficult times, we are certain that
the technologies driven by these visionary companies will contribute to
the next wave of growth, with the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit
that characterizes them," said Andre Schneider, Managing Director and
Chief Operating Officer of the World Economic Forum.
"We're proud to have an innovative company like Phase Forward
representing our state at this prestigious international forum," said
Dan O'Connell, Massachusetts Secretary of Housing and Economic
Development. "Phase Forward's unique innovation - developing software to
automate the clinical trial process - successfully translated a concept
into a vibrant, publicly held company. Companies like Phase Forward
underscore Massachusetts' position as a global leader in life sciences
and technology."
This recognition represents the culmination of a remarkable year for
Phase Forward. The company ranked 38th on the Fortune "Small Business
100" list of America's fastest growing small public companies, and
ranked 16th in the Boston Globe "Globe 100" of top-performing public
companies in Massachusetts. The company's InForm(TM) Integrated Trial
Management product was named by the Software & Information Industry
Association as the winner of the 2008 CODiE Award for Best Medical and
Health Information Product. Phase Forward customer GSK won a prestigious
Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Award for a software system
that helps to predict safety issues in early-stage pharmaceutical
research. The system was co-developed by GSK and Phase Forward's Lincoln
Safety Group. And another Phase Forward customer, Dana-Farber Cancer
Institute, won CIO Magazine's 2008 CIO 100 award for its implementation
of Phase Forward's flagship InForm product.
About the World Economic Forum Technology Pioneers Program
This is the 10th anniversary of the Technology Pioneers program of the
Forum, which aims to recognize companies at the forefront of technology
and innovation. The program, started in 2000, so far has identified
around 400 companies that have contributed to the Forum's mission of
improving the state of the world. To be selected as a Technology
Pioneer, a company must be involved in the development of life-changing
technology innovation and have the potential for long-term impact on
business and society. In addition, it must demonstrate visionary
leadership and show all the signs of being a long-standing market leader
- and its technology must be proven. Previous Technology Pioneers
include 23andme, Amyris Biotechnologies, Dr. Reddy Laboratories, Google,
Gridpoint, Infosys, Kaspersky Lab, Mozilla Corporation and Nanosolar.
About Phase Forward
Phase Forward is a leading provider of integrated data management
solutions for clinical trials and drug safety. The company offers proven
solutions for electronic data capture (InForm(TM)), phase I clinic
automation (LabPas(TM)), clinical data management (Clintrial(TM)), clinical
trials signal detection (CTSD(TM)), strategic pharmacovigilance (Empirica
Signal(TM)) and Signal Management, adverse event reporting (Empirica
Trace(TM)), applied data standards (WebSDM(TM)) and Web-integrated interactive
response technologies (Clarix(TM)). In addition, the company provides
services in the areas of application implementation, hosting and
validation, data integration, business process optimization, safety data
management and industry standards. Phase Forward's products and services
have been utilized in over 10,000 clinical trials involving more than
1,000,000 clinical trial study participants at over 280 organizations
and regulatory agencies worldwide including: AstraZeneca, Boston
Scientific, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Eli Lilly, the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration, GlaxoSmithKline, Harvard Clinical Research
Institute, Merck Serono, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, PAREXEL International,
Procter & Gamble, Quintiles, sanofi-aventis, Schering-Plough Research
Institute, Servier, Tibotec and the U.K. Medicines and Healthcare
Products Regulatory Agency. Additional information about Phase Forward
is available at www.phaseforward.com.
Cautionary Statement
Certain statements made in this press release that are not based on
historical information are forward-looking statements which are made
pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. This press release contains express or
implied forward-looking statements relating to, among other things, the
performance of Phase Forward's products and services, continued market
acceptance of Phase Forward's products and services, and the ability of
Phase Forward's customers to realize benefits from the use of Phase
Forward's products and services. These statements are neither promises
nor guarantees, but are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties,
many of which are beyond Phase Forward's control, which could cause
actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in these
forward-looking statements. In particular, the risks and uncertainties
include, among other things, the ability of Phase Forward's customers to
realize benefits from the use of its products and services, the
possibility that customers' needs or plans may change over time, and the
introduction or improvement of products and services competitive with
those of Phase Forward. Existing and prospective investors are cautioned
not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which
speak only as of the date hereof. Phase Forward undertakes no obligation
to update or revise the information contained in this press release,
whether as a result of new information, future events or circumstances
or otherwise. For additional disclosure regarding these and other risks
faced by Phase Forward, see the disclosure contained in Phase Forward's
public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission including,
without limitation, its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, as
updated by its most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
CONTACT: Phase Forward
Elaine Maynard, 781-902-4371
elaine.maynard@phaseforward.com
or
CHEN PR, Inc.
Randy Wambold, 781-672-3119
rwambold@chenpr.com
Source: Phase Forward
