Medidata (NASDAQ:MDSO) successfully hosted NEXT conferences in Basel and Frankfurt, with executives from global life sciences and pharmaceutical companies presenting, including Bayer, Cancer Research UK, and Roche. The conferences featured discussions on precision medicine, the digital era and managing big data in life sciences, artificial intelligence’s role in the success of R&D portfolios and more on technology’s transformative impact on the next generation of drug development. The Medidata NEXT events in Basel and Frankfurt included representatives from more than 115 global life sciences and pharmaceutical companies.

Industry thought leaders spoke at the events, including Dominic Demolder, head of business design at Roche, who took a closer look at the digital era, and how life sciences must change its mindset to make the best use of technology. According to Demolder, it’s time to disrupt ourselves using small scale experiments to create new value-added business models, before somebody else does. Steve Nabarro from Cancer Research UK also led a discussion during the conferences on the organization’s vision to see 3 in 4 people surviving cancer for 10 years or more by 2034, and the role of clinical innovation to bring forward the day when all cancers are cured. Dr Benedikt Egersdoerfer, head of data sciences and analytics at Bayer, examined the (new) importance of data in drug development. Egersdoerfer acknowledged that many processes in pharma are still done manually, but with the help of technology, the industry is catching up with more data-focused companies.

Medidata co-founders Tarek Sherif, CEO & chairman and Glen de Vries, president, as well as senior vice president for EMEA, Christian Hebenstreit, led discussions on how to unlock the value of clinical trial data and accelerate drug development with powerful analytics. Joined on stage by multiple partners and customers, such as TrialGrid, they shared concrete case studies demonstrating how Medidata’s end-to-end eClinical platform powers the future of clinical research. The Medidata Clinical Cloud® is the only industry solution that unifies every part of the clinical trial, from science to operations, taking the complexity out of research.

“We want to thank the members of our customer and partner community, the largest in the life sciences industry, for attending and participating in Medidata NEXT,” said Tarek Sherif, CEO & chairman, Medidata. “I had the opportunity to speak with participants about how to solve some of today’s biggest challenges in clinical research, including the volume and complexity of data, patient scarcity and study costs. We are uniquely positioned to turn these challenges into new opportunities with our platform approach. Medidata offers the only unified eClinical platform that addresses the science and business operations of drug & device development, leveraging the largest cross-sponsor clinical data repository and analytics to drive end-to-end value from study start to finish.”

Medidata NEXT events also spotlight community leaders facilitating new techniques for disease awareness. Moritz Werner, from the Association Nicola Werner, delivered an inspiring keynote in Frankfurt about the importance of taking care of both the mind and body for medical treatments to succeed. Werner talked candidly about the journey he and his family are on, dealing with the impact of HPV-related cancer and how they are turning their story into hope.

The Medidata NEXT global series is where science meets technology meets the future, with interactive, hands-on learning opportunities to design, execute, manage and monitor the next generation of clinical research. The final European event in this global series will take place in London on April 25-26, where Medidata will be joined by hundreds of industry leaders.

For further details of the events and to register, please visit http://medidatanext.com.

About Medidata NEXT

Medidata NEXT (formerly Medidata Symposium) began in 2006 when a group of dedicated Medidata customers collaborated to create an open and mutually beneficial environment to network, exchange ideas, share best practices and provide feedback to Medidata.

Today, Medidata NEXT has become an even more diverse mix of global Medidata customers and service partners who enjoy the benefits of the Medidata Clinical Cloud. Medidata NEXT gathers 2,500 life science professionals to learn, network and share. To date, nearly 40 conferences have been held around the globe. 2018 events will occur in Basel, Frankfurt, London, Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai and New York.

About Medidata

Medidata's unified platform, pioneering analytics, and unrivaled expertise power the development of new therapies for over 1,000 pharmaceutical companies, biotech, medical device firms, academic medical centers and contract research organizations around the world. The Medidata Clinical Cloud® connects patients, physicians and life sciences professionals. Companies on the Medidata platform are individually and collaboratively reinventing the way research is done to create smarter, more precise treatments. For more information: www.mdsol.com