Solution Targets Sharp Reduction in Clinical Trials Time for Life Sciences Firms

Prague – March 10, 2004 – First Consulting Group (NASDAQ: FCGI) announced today the launch of FirstDocTM Clinical Trials, the fifth module in the company’s market-leading enterprise content management (ECM) solution suite, at the DIA EuroMeeting in Prague, Czech Republic. FirstDoc offers Life Sciences enterprises a flexible single foundation from which to manage clinical information, documentation and workflow. FCG developed its most recent ECM module to respond to a functional need that has yet to be addressed by the IT vendor marketplace. R&D remains the area of major IT spend within the pharmaceutical industry – estimated at $13.2 billion in 2002 – yet very little of the investment has addressed companies’ clinical documentation and data challenges. FirstDoc Clinical Trials is one of the few solutions tailored to manage clinical documentation throughout the trials’ process and help companies overcome some of these issues. FCG’s most recent ECM contracts have included FirstDoc Clinical Trials. The company anticipates that many of its 40+ global pharmaceutical clients will adopt the Clinical Trials module as they roll out an enterprise-wide solution in the coming years.

“FirstDoc Clinical Trials is the cornerstone of FCG’s eClinical roadmap, which aims to reduce clinical trials time by as much as two-thirds – consistent with estimates the analysts have projected for those companies that leverage clinical automation tools,” said Mark Vermette, Director of Clinical Solutions for FCG’s Life Sciences practice. “Currently, 95% of clinical trial information is paper-based, which results in clinical trial managers making slow and sometimes inaccurate decisions based on old data. Our solution delivers real-time management and status reporting of received clinical documents to researchers, prompting fewer errors and faster drug discovery and development. The release of our FirstDoc Clinical Trials solution sets the foundation for clinical documentation and data set storage and management for that vision.”

About the FirstDoc Suite
FirstDoc Clinical Trials allows clinical managers to make real-time decisions about trials, thereby enabling clinical departments to contribute to regulatory submissions in a fraction of the time previously required. With FirstDoc’s foundational information infrastructure, companies can now gain competitive advantage through the knowledge collected and shared throughout the trial, improving the client’s ability to launch products faster and more cost effectively.

Both web and client/server enabled, FirstDoc Clinical Trials streamlines trials by managing and organizing all documentation, Trial Master File (TMF) documents and Case Report forms (CRF), created and collected during the planning and execution of clinical trials.

The company’s ECM solution suite anchors FCG’s array of consulting, technology, and outsourcing services that help life sciences leaders improve return on investment at all phases in the drug development lifecycle. FirstDoc is the only solution suite in the life sciences industry that offers full enterprise functionality in an out-of-the-box, regulatory compliant solution. The five modules in the FirstDoc solution suite cover all stages of the drug development lifecycle. In addition to FirstDoc Clinical Trials, they include FirstDoc R&D, FirstDoc GMP (manufacturing), FirstDoc M&S (marketing and sales) and FirstDoc MedInfo (medical information).

About FCG
FCG is a leading provider of outsourcing, consulting, systems implementation and integration services for healthcare, pharmaceutical, and other life sciences organisations throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Through combinations of on-site, off-site and offshore outsourced services, FCG provides low-cost, high-quality offerings to improve its client's performance. The firm's consulting and integration services increase clients' operations effectiveness with and through information technology, resulting in reduced costs, improved customer service, enhanced quality of patient care, and more rapid introduction of new pharmaceutical compounds. For more information about FCG, visit www.fcg.com or call 001 800-345-0957.

# # #

For more information contact:
Sue Glanville
EuroPR Group
FCG
+44 208 8971 6404
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.