Article 473: Hot Latin American Clinical Research Market Will Moderate

• Latin America's clinical research market has experienced significant growth over the past 10 years, especially during the last five. But, the region's market has grown from a relatively small base and the growth it has experienced in the last five years will not continue at the same rate. Thomson CenterWatch has conducted the first ever survey of sites throughout Latin America, discovering what the bottlenecks for drug development are at the site-level and what sites believe could best prevent future delays.

Article 474: Addressing the Investigator Shortfall

• CenterWatch data show that the widening shortfall of experienced clinical investigators will continue to grow in the U.S. unless sponsors tap into the almost 450,000 physicians who don't participate in clinical research. The barriers to entry into clinical research conduct are many for U.S. physicians, and some of them are related to the way sponsors select sites. Almost half of physicians surveyed by CenterWatch who do enter the research field and remain involved in trials rank professional development, interest in research and a drive to improve patient care as key motivators.

Article 475: European Highlights from the 2006 Liquent Regulatory Affairs Trends Survey

• Results from the fourth annual Liquent Regulatory Affairs Trends Survey, conducted by Thomson Scientific, generally show that Europeans lag behind non-Europeans in terms of migrating to a completely electronic submission process.

Article 476: Eye On Thrombosis

• If untreated, thrombosis, or formation of a thrombus or blood clot in a vein or artery, may completely block or occlude the affected blood vessel. This prevents blood flow carrying oxygen and nutrients to the tissues normally supplied by that blood vessel, leading to stroke or infarction.