Press Release

Contact:
Melina Trevino
Corporate Communications – North America
P: 210.247.2440
F: 210.348.1003
E: melina.trevino@frost.com

Survey: Way to Establish Proficient IT Infrastructure - The Implementation of GIP in Healthcare and Life Sciences Companies

Palo Alto, Calif. — October 4, 2007 — Frost & Sullivan is pleased to announce that through a partnership with the Life Science Information Technology Global Institute (LSIT), we are conducting an exciting new survey on "IT Practices Within Life Sciences Companies." This survey is designed to reach out to Life Sciences companies and their IT partners to gain a better understanding of the challenges faced in managing risks associated with the use of information technology for the life science industry. The objectives of this survey are to assist in understanding the impact of developing Good Informatics Practices (GIP) in life science IT, and to gauge the level of need within life science organizations for such guidance for improving quality and trust of IT within life sciences.

Please participate in this brief survey by visiting: http://www.lsit.org/newsite/news/news/survey-07.php

"In 2005, conducted a survery within the Life Science Indusry. The results were clear: trusted IT guidance is critically needed in the Life Science and Healthcare industries. At that time, over two hundred senior life sciences professionals, from around the globe revealed the key areas where trusted IT guidance is most needed: IT Security, Data Management, Testing & Validation, and IT Infrastructure Operations.

In the subsequent two years, LSIT has drafted trusted IT guidance or GIP’s addressing these areas. Now, we are excited to communicate these to a broader community for valuable feedback. We want to affirm our findings, and test our hypothesis that: 1. LifeScience IT does not have a common industry guidance and best practice for the establishment of IT infrastructure, Data Management, IT Security. 2. The development of and enhancements and upgrades to validated systems, are time intensive and costly 3. Risks inherent within LifeScience IT can impact security of data, availability of data and the integrity of data.

This survey will provide a nice backdrop to our first public review of the emerging GIPs for Life Science IT." Elaine Wuertz – Chairman of the Board LSIT

Life Science Information Technology Global Institute (LSIT) is a not-for-profit independent organization. It focuses on the importance of developing and providing trusted, reliable, and secure IT solutions to further the advancement of life sciences and public health worldwide. The member organizations that are part of LSIT believe it is critical to implement GIP, because Information Technology is a highly vital component that enables a company to be efficient, successful, and competitive.

Additionally, LSIT will establish computational functions that are accurate and valid, as well as execute GIP to reduce barriers for adopting enabling technologies. In turn, this will contribute to a significant reduction of time management and cost issues, such as, compliance, risk management, return on investments, security, along with validation and data management.

Currently, IT engineering is not a core competency for most Healthcare and Life Sciences companies. Various functions within these sectors require significant use of complex and multiple IT platforms to support the overwhelming demand for these companies to utilize very intricate IT systems for the advancement of complex computational, data management tasks. This is seen as a major challenge, primarily, because these tasks are extremely significant in exploring and treating diseases at a cellular level, along with developing and utilizing procedures that treat and cure diseases world wide. However, these companies do not have the resources to be taking on these systems and tasks solely by themselves.

Life Sciences and Healthcare IT companies can stay on top of GIP’s while entrusting LSIT to provide non biased, open publicity available, best practice IT guidelines that help better manage risk and ensure adherence to optimal compliance standards. (LSIT’s mission statement)

Frost & Sullivan, a global growth consulting company, has been partnering with clients to support the development of innovative strategies for more than 40 years. The company's industry expertise integrates growth consulting, growth partnership services, and corporate management training to identify and develop opportunities. Frost & Sullivan serves an extensive clientele that includes Global 1000 companies, emerging companies, and the investment community by providing comprehensive industry coverage that reflects a unique global perspective and combines ongoing analysis of markets, technologies, econometrics, and demographics. For more information, visit www.frost.com.