ClearTrial Selected to Provide Methodologies for Accurately Forecasting and Budgeting Clinical Spend and Integrated Financial Controls at CBI Conference

Two members of the ClearTrial clinical services team to present the critical processes that comprise a more accurate forecast and budget discipline across clinical development departments

Chicago, IL – February 8, 2010

ClearTrial, the leading provider of Clinical Trial Operations (CTO) software, today announced that both Kristin Lucas and Kelly Larrabee, Directors, Clinical Services at ClearTrial, have been selected to speak at the CBI Forecasting & Budgeting conference at the Marriott Courtyard Downtown in Philadelphia on February 8, 2010. Predictive modeling, expert project planning and tracking, outsourcing, re-forecasting, accruals and reporting are some of the critical processes they will address in order to provide a more accurate forecast and budget discipline.

Kelly Larrabee will explore the most commonly used forecasting and budgeting methodologies and models and discuss the pros and cons of each method. Attendees will learn what the most effective predictive models are and how they can be applied for more accurate forecasts and resource planning.

Attendees will discover:

  • Latest findings from a Tufts CSDD research report for assessing internal costs
  • Difference between benchmarking and Activity Based Costing models
  • Pros and cons for buying or building your own costing system
  • Proven techniques for accurately managing accruals based on when the work is performed.

Also at the conference, Kristin Lucas will introduce new Clinical Financial Best Practices guidelines and share industry best practices for managing the clinical financial plan from “plan to payment.” Kristin will discuss how implementing a set of integrated processes across clinical development departments can result in significant operational efficiencies, accelerated operations, improved outsourcing and licensing arrangements and improved financial controls.

Attendees will learn:

  • Guidelines for establishing Clinical Financial Best Practices
  • Budget and project planning integration
  • Best practices for change control
  • Forecasting of spending, accruals and milestones

About the Speakers

Kelly Larrabee brings over 17 years of experience in clinical operations, global regulatory interpretation, project management, and clinical software implementation in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Prior to joining ClearTrial, Larrabee was Associate Director, Clinical Operations for Quintiles, where she oversaw the management of Clinical Research Associates for the Functional Service Provider group for a global sponsor company and led process improvement initiatives related to managing the closure of non-enrolling sites. Before Quintiles, Larrabee was Manager and Regional Study Lead for Pfizer, where she directed project site protocol deliverables for pilot, phase I and phase II oncology studies, and managed the Pfizer Investigator Training Program for the Western Region.

Kristin Lucas offers ClearTrial customers comprehensive and knowledgeable customer service built on 15 years of clinical operations, outsourcing, project management, and finance experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Prior to joining ClearTrial, Lucas led the Financial Administration division for the Clinical Business Management department at ICOS Corporation (an Eli Lilly company), where she worked on the blockbuster drug Cialis®. At ICOS, Lucas was responsible for establishing best practices in the outsourcing, management, drafting and negotiation of site and vendor agreements, as well as the development of a clinical budgeting/modeling application for lifecycle planning, budgeting and in-licensing opportunity assessment. In addition, she led the Sarbanes-Oxley audit preparedness project, resulting in ICOS achieving SOX compliance in 2006.

About ClearTrial®

ClearTrial is the leading provider of Clinical Trial Operations (CTO) software, a seamlessly integrated system for clinical operations planning, forecasting, outsourcing, and project tracking. ClearTrial’s award-winning software helps life sciences companies streamline their clinical operations from Plan to Payment™ without sacrificing quality of results, providing executives and functional leaders in clinical operations, resource planning, finance, outsourcing, and project management with a common platform that promotes speed, accuracy, and consistency throughout the organization. For more information please visit http://www.cleartrial.com.

ClearTrial® and the ClearTrial logo are registered trademarks owned by ClearTrial, LLC, which may be registered in certain jurisdictions. Any other company or product names mentioned in this release are hereby acknowledged as registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners.


For more information contact:

Mike Lange
ClearTrial
+1 630.986.9800 x112
mlange@cleartrial.com