Akaza Research, provider of the OpenClinica open-source clinical trial software, is boasting a 246 percent increase in users over the past year, pushing the total beyond 10,500. The stat comes from the company's annual user survey, which also finds a rise in the number of submissions made using the software to 43.
OpenClinica is open-source software, akin to the more widely known open-source offerings of the Linux operating system and the MySQL database software. Open-source development involves free distribution of the software and user participation in its development. The model contrasts with closed-source proprietary systems, in which the solutions provider controls product evolution and offers the product for a licensing fee.
An example of how the user community is driving OpenClinica development is the recent addition of web service interfaces that were contributed by OpenXdata, says Ben Baumann, business development director at Akaza, via email. The interfaces enhance system interoperability, easing OpenClinica data exchanges with other systems. Another example, as reported in May, is a user-developed library of case report forms.
Additional data from the survey, which encompasses both the Community (free) and Enterprise (fee-based) versions of OpenClinica, reveals that two-thirds of users are divided among the pharma, biotech and medical device sectors; the rest are academic users.
- see the Akaza release