Friday, October 3, 2008

Founder, chairman Bleicher leaving Phase Forward

Paul Bleicher, founder of Phase Forward Inc., will step down from his day-to-day operational responsibilities at the end of this month, including serving as chairman of the board. He will be replaced as chairman by CEO Robert Weiler, according to the company.

Bleicher will remain a member of the board of Waltham-based Phase Forward (Nasdaq: PFWD), although he will be moving on to launch a new health-care informatics company.

Founded by Bleicher in 1997, Phase Forward went public in July 2004. Since then, the company has posted 16 consecutive quarters of revenue growth, with a four year annual growth rate of more than 23 percent.

In September, Phase Forward acquired Radnor, Pa.-based Clarix LLC for $40 million in cash. Clarix makes web-based clinical trial software, focusing on interactive response technology for managing data during studies.

Phase Forward provides integrated data management for clinical trials and drug safety. The company’s products and services have been used in clinical trials from Boston Scientific Corp., Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Harvard Clinical Research Institute and sanofi-aventis, among others.