Akaza Research is a Waltham, Massachusetts-based company, created in 2004 that works to improve the speed of clinical research through the use of open source, LGPL-licensed technology. In 2005, Akaza Research released its OpenClinica product, which has become the leading open-source clinical data capture system.[1]
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OpenClinica is open source clinical trials software. The software is available in both free and paid editions. The freely available OpenClinica Community Edition is distributed under the LGPL open source license and may be downloaded from https://community.openclinica.com/. The paid edition of OpenClinia comes with support, validation, and value added capabilities, and is available from Akaza Research. The OpenClinica project was initiated by Akaza Research in 2005.
OpenClinica is used to collect, manage, and store data on clinical trials in an electronic database. This is called Electronic Data Capture, or EDC. OpenClinica is used by over 350 clinical research institutions all over the world, including government organizations, biopharma companies, contract research organizations, and academic medical centers.[2]
While it provides the means to manage clinical research, OpenClinica also includes tools to aid protocol design, create and manage electronic Case Report Forms (eCRFs), monitor studies, and obtain real-time transparency across multiple studies and sites. The software accepts user created "CRF" forms (made in Excel) and transforms them into dynamic electronic CRFs in the OpenClinica interface.
An open-source clinical data capture system can offer help in allowing a much wider spectrum of people to conduct clinical trials. The software makes keeping track of trials much easier, faster, and cleaner. This may also encourage the participation of poorer countries or organizations in the research process, as similar clinical bio-informatics come with a high price tag. [3]