Company Profiles - Invision IT

Invision IT


Melbourne-based software developer Invision IT Systems has created Evado, a paperless solution for complex clinical trials that will help doctors and patients get important new medical therapies and devices faster.

The story so far


Evado Clinical Trials Software is a division of Invision IT Systems, a specialist group of Melbourne life science entrepreneurs and software engineers with more than 20 years experience in revolutionary health and technology solutions.

Developed over five- years, Evado is a web-based application designed to replace paper-based case report forms with easy-to-customise templates suitable for drug or medical device trials.

Developed through collaboration with Victoria’s La Trobe University, Victoria.Net, Microsoft and global computer chip maker Intel, Evado is built to Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standards and meets Federal Drug Agency (FDA) and Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) requirements for the collection of electronic data as well as International Conference on Harmonisation / WHO Good Clinical Practice standards (ICH GCP).

Evado software has the potential to greatly reduce the cost of every type of clinical trial – large and small – which often requires complex coordination of patients, physicians and regulatory agencies around the world.

Able to run on the web, a tablet computer, a laptop, or a mobile phone, the software can store data from one to 20,000 trials and gives clinicians the ability to simultaneously view records and collaborate with colleagues anywhere in the world in real-time.

"Huge savings in time and money can be made by collecting clinical data electronically," said Evado CEO Jennie Anderson. "Information can be accurately passed from the mobile collection device to the web without having to be faxed, posted, couriered or re-keyed."

"Our focus all the way along has been on developing software that helps get new therapies and drugs to the patients and doctors who need them faster and at less cost," said Jennie.

Reaching new markets


After launching its software in Australia in November 2007, Evado is planning expansion into the EU, US and Asia. In May 2008 Evado signed a reseller agreement with SeerPharma, a specialist training, quality assurance and regulatory compliance company with offices throughout the Asia-Pacific.

The software was showcased at the Clinical Trials and Excellence conference and trade exhibition in Kuala Lumpur in October 2008, and negotiations are underway to partner with a local Malaysian company for support and training. Evado is also offered as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) application to its medical device, biotechnology and life science clients. A second reseller agreement is currently being negotiated for the US and UK.

Companies purchasing Evado buy one licence per trial and can run unlimited numbers of users. The cost is scaled, depending on the size of the trial and the number of modules purchased. Evado's software comes in two versions: pre-clinical, for animal and first human trials, and clinical, for Phase I to IV trials.

The software is currently being used by Dr John Woodard, chief scientific officer at Ventracor, the co-inventor of the VentrAssist 'artificial heart'. Dr Woodard and his team are using Evado for a new study to develop a fully implantable mechanical heart pump at The Alfred in Melbourne.

Why Victoria?


With its long history of biomedical innovation and leading edge medical research, Melbourne was the ideal city to develop and commercialise Evado. More than 2000 world-class clinical trials take place in Australia each year, with a large number of these overseen from Melbourne. "We couldn't have developed a product like this in any other Australian city or without the far-sighted support of our university collaborations, industry associations and the Victorian Government. The help from Microsoft Australia and Intel has also been integral to our success," said Anderson.

Microsoft Australia's Empower program provided Invision IT with a low-cost software package - including the Windows operating system, Office, Windows Server, Exchange and SharePoint - to help the company complete its software development phase. Intel loaned a series of devices to help develop the integration between the Motion Computing tablet computer and the Evado mobile application.

"Although we plan to establish sales and support offices in Asia, Europe and the US within the next 18 months, we will continue most of our product development in Victoria," Anderson explained. "The relationships we've built up and the ICT expertise that exists here in Melbourne are the foundation of our business and they’ll be integral to our ongoing success."

The future


Evado is currently negotiating a deal with for its software to be used in a major international drug trial across nine sites involving patients and researchers throughout the world.

In October 2008, the company signed a multi-year deal with Monash University’s Centre of Cardiovascular Research & Education in Therapeutics (CCRE) who will use Evado to manage all of their clinical trial data.

CCRE Therapeutics will also conduct trials for commercial sponsors like Bayer, Novartis, Merck & Co and other medical research institutions using Evado to collect and manage the data.

In addition, new modules are planned to be added to the software over the next 12 months including the ability to store images and automatically validate data. The data validation module will include a variety of safeguards and protocols so that a researcher cannot input incorrect data.