Farmovs, an independent contract research centre at University of the Orange Free State in Bloemfontein, is undertaking a major upgrade of its laboratory information management systems (LIMS) and has bought an HP 9000 D220 from Computer Configurations to run the new systems.
Founded in 1884, Farmovs performs contract research in the fields of clinical pharmacology and drug development. It undertakes an average of 50 Phase 1 trials and about 20 patient studies a year, generating multi-million rand income from local and multinational pharmaceutical clients.
The research centre uses the latest electronic research and analysis equipment, totally computerised, interfacing with the centre`s databases and LIMS and with patients. The centre`s 56-bed clinic caters for overnight patients.
George Wasserman, Farmovs IT director, says the centre constantly updates its equipment and facilities to meet its ever widening scope. "We need to maintain the highest standard of contract research to compete internationally and to complement our staff`s hard work."
IT plays a key role at Farmovs, from initial project registration on the file server, through to final archiving on CD-ROM at the end of a project.
The upgrade to WINPhIRSt, the Windows version of the LIMS system, from Phoenix Life Sciences in Canada, is part of this process. The old system was based on MS-DOS, but the new version runs against the Oracle 7.3 database, requiring a robust database server. As Farmovs has standardised on Hewlett-Packard, right down to PC level, it chose an HP 9000 D220 Unix server from Computer Configurations.
The fact that WINPhIRSt runs against Oracle resulted in a decision to move the CATS sample management system off SQL Server. CATS is a Phase 1 clinical trials system from UK-based SECHI. It handles aspects such as study management and scheduling and interfaces with SECHI`s VOLbase volunteer management database. Internally developed systems, such as the temperature monitoring software, controlling Farmovs 60 sample storage refrigerators, will also be transferred to the HP. Since upgrading to WINPhIRSt, Farmovs has also started using WINPhate, Phoenix`s sample tracking system.
"The foremost business benefit for Farmovs is that we now have a world-class computer, running world-class systems, giving us faster response and processing times. This allows us to undertake more research, to deliver results for our clients faster and to better meet our deadlines," says Wasserman.
"Farmovs IT services division strives to create seamless integration between its software and hardware systems to create a uniform computer environment," says Jim Jeffrey, Computer Configurations sales manager. "The new HP 9000 will realise this integration."
Farmovs`s 105 users connect to the new HP via a Novell NetWare LAN. Devices on the LAN include three HP file servers, 200 PCs, 25 LaserJet printers, an HP ScanJet 5 SI scanner, a DesignJet colour plotter which can handle up to A0-size paper, and an HP Surestore optical library for hierarchical storage management.
The next step will be the implementation of Oracle Clinical, a clinical database. A future vision for the centralised Oracle database is that of uniform access via a Web browser.
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