LONDON - British Biotech plc, of Oxford, signed a collaboration with a U.S. e-healthcare company, CareScience Inc., to access patient data in the field of oncology for use in designing clinical trials.

Under the agreement British Biotech will pay fees of US$1.5 million over three years for the development and support of an oncology database based on North American patient data. British Biotech will help to define, test and validate the product. Elliot Goldstein, CEO of British Biotech, said, "This collaboration will grant British Biotech access to, and enhance our understanding of, U.S. clinical data, which will optimize our core business of drug development."

CareScience gathers clinical information via its CareScript web site and analyzes the data using proprietary techniques developed at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Medicine and Wharton Business School. British Biotech will have exclusive use of the database for a limited period following development. After this, CareScience will market and sell it and pay royalties to British Biotech. CareScience is using its access to patient data to develop databases in other disease areas.

As well as helping to improve the design and execution of clinical trials, the database will provide a better understanding of unmet needs and the best patient populations to target for new drug development, and the economic data to support pricing and reimbursement.