News

Certara Launches Version 8.0 of its Industry-leading Phoenix® PK/PD Modeling and Simulation

Software for Drug Development Scientists

Phoenix 8.0 provides scientists with more power, efficiency and transparency into 
PK/PD analysis and modeling for regulatory review

PRINCETON, NJ – Oct. 3, 2017 – Certara®, the global leader in model-informed drug development and regulatory science, today announced the launch of Phoenix 8.0. Phoenix is the most advanced, intuitive, and widely-used software for pharmacokinetic (PK), pharmacodynamic (PD) and toxicokinetic (TK) modeling and simulation. Included in this Phoenix® rollout are Phoenix WinNonlin® 8.0, Phoenix NLME™ 8.0, Phoenix Validation Suite 8.0, and Phoenix in vitro-in vivo correlation (IVIVC) Toolkit 8.0.

Phoenix is used by 6,000 researchers at 1,500 biopharmaceutical companies and academic institutions in 60 countries. Phoenix is also employed by many global regulatory agencies for submittal review, including 11 divisions of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

“Modeling and simulation play a critical role in organizing diverse data sets and exploring alternate study designs. This enables safe and effective new therapeutics to advance more efficiently through the different stages of clinical trials1,” said US FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD.

“Phoenix is considered the gold standard in PK/PD modeling and simulation, and we take our responsibility to deliver continuous improvement and innovation very seriously. It has been only 12 months since the last Phoenix release, and we have added several important new features to the software to allow key drug development decisions to be made quicker,” said David Munro, President of Phoenix Technologies at Certara.

Expedites Data Analysis

Phoenix NLME 8.0 takes advantage of grid computing in several ways. It supports between model parallelizing, allowing two models to be run together on different processors. It also permits within model parallel action so the analysis work for one model can be divided between several CPUs. Scientists can now use computation grids with hundreds of processors to get their analysis done in a fraction of the time.

Phoenix can also combine the two approaches, enabling models to be run in parallel and on multiple cores, reducing model run time by 80-90%. This allows modelers to complete their analysis and scientific exploration in real time. They can then revise their hypothesis if necessary and move onto the next step.

Phoenix NLME 8.0 also includes a distributed delay function to model delayed outcomes in therapeutic areas such as oncology, diabetes and arthritis. This simplifies coding delays in PK/PD models and can be used in place of transit compartments, dual absorption models, effect compartment models, and indirect response models. This function is unique in its ability to automate these complex analyses.

Automates Calculations 

Phoenix WinNonlin 8.0 includes several non-compartmental analysis (NCA) advances that were made in response to our ‘Voice of Customer’ analysis, which included valuable input from users all over the world.

The NCA engine now automatically calculates more than a dozen new additional parameters for plasma and urine. By cutting post-processing activities, this update can decrease analysis time by about 25%. Scientists can also define their own NCA parameters such as compute concentrations at any time point.

In addition, scientists can set strict criteria for the terminal slope calculation in NCA to ensure compliance with their organization’s policies and procedures. This approach can also assist regulators by clearly stating what process and acceptability criteria were used.

Accelerates Validation Automation 

For the first time, the Phoenix WinNonlin Validation Suite is included within the Phoenix software. Now validation can be completed in less than 30 minutes. Previous iterations took up to two days to execute. Furthermore, Phoenix WinNonlin Validation Suite 8.0 can be run in the background, allowing scientists to continue using other programs on their computer. Lastly, Phoenix validation results are now date stamped and stored on the scientist’s computer, providing easy access if a validation needs to be re-run.

Maintains Consistency and Facilitates QC

The Phoenix application has many settings for each object, making it time consuming to replicate a plot or table. Scientists can now save all their object settings for use later or apply them to the existing object with one click. This ensures high quality output with less time and effort.

Scientists can also lock workflows in Phoenix 8.0 Workbench. Therefore, they can be confident that their settings haven’t changed without the painstaking quality control process that used to be required.

Certara will demonstrate the new Phoenix 8.0 features during a one-hour webinar beginning at 11 a.m. EDT on Nov. 1. Interested parties can register for the webinar at

https://www.certara.com/webinars/how-can-you-get-the-most-out-of-phoenix-8-0.

Reference

1. Dr. Gottlieb blog post: “How FDA Plans to Help Consumers Capitalize on Advances in Science.” FDA Voice. July 7, 2017.

For more information email sales@4amsoftware.com.au

 

4am Software Pty Ltd., Is the Exclusive Distributor for SYSTAT®, SigmaPlot, SigmaScan, SigmaStat, TableCurve 2D®, TableCurve 3D®, and PeakFit® for the region of Australia and NZ.

"The much awaited Sigma Plot version 13 is now released, the product will be shipping shortly, and customers will be informed accordingly. 4am Software Pty the Exclusive distributor for the ANZ region for Sigma Plot is greatly pleased to be assisting customers with this new version." 

Note : All customers that are under maintenance will be sent the new version as soon as the same is ready for shipping. Also, the website will be updated shortly with the new version.

Systat Software Inc Press Release

The most advanced scientific graphing and statistical analysis software now includes Forest and Kernel Density plots, ANCOVA, Principal Components Analysis, new color schemes and significant legend improvements. The new optimized Graph Properties window results in increased ease of use.

San Jose, Calif., - Monday July 28th, Systat Software Inc a leading developer and supplier of award-winning scientific software and services today announced SigmaPlot Version 13 their latest version of the most advanced scientific data analysis and graphing software package. This version has multiple new graph features including Forest plots and Kernel Density a smooth probability distribution plot, 10 new color schemes, additional statistics functions for Principal Components Analysis (PCA) and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and legend improvements which includes the Direct Labeling method. SigmaPlot version 13 provides researchers with an optimized property interface with no tabs, with all properties displayed in one place and instant graph display upon property change. The Graph Properties panel is smaller and has an optional transparency to show graph changes behind it. Version 13 has increased ease of use to quickly analyze data and create exact, publication-quality graphs that best present research results for presentation, publication or the web.

"More than 500,000 scientists and engineers have used SigmaPlot worldwide. It has long been the industry standard for graphing and analyzing data in the scientific and engineering communities  because it plays a key role in enabling researchers to visually communicate important research results." said Richard Mitchell, PhD, Senior Scientist at Systat Software, Inc. The new SigmaPlot 13 adds two new analysis methods to extract additional information from your data.  Principal Components Analysis finds variables that succinctly describe your data. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) improves the description of your data by including the effect of "nuisance" variables. A total of 24 probability functions have been added that can be used for function fitting or curve visualization.  The Direct Labeling method places the legend items next to their plots rather than in a legend which makes understanding the graph much quicker.  Other analysis, user-interface and import/export features together with the simplified Graph Properties dialog introduced in Version 12 combine to make this a significant release"  advised Dr. Mitchell.


New SigmaPlot 13 Features, Enhancements and Capabilities

 

The important features of SigmaPlot version 13 are: 

  • Forest plot combines the results of like studies to improve statistical significance
  • Kernel density plot is a smooth curve representation of the underlying data distribution
  • 10 New color schemes for improved visualization
  • Legend improvements including Direct Labeling for increased ease of use
  • Line widths from a column for custom graph creation
  • Principal components analysis to determine the major data relationships
  • Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) includes the effects of"nuisance" variables
  • Added P values to multiple comparisons for non-parametric ANOVAs
  • Dot density graph with mean and standard error bars for improved data description

Other new features in this version are: 

  • Akaike Information Criterion (AICc) in the Regression Wizard and Dynamic Fit Wizard reports and the Report Options dialog
  • Seven weighting functions added to all curve fit equations in standard.jfl
  • Notebook items can now be rearranged by dragging
  • SVG and SWF file formats for scalable vector graphics export
  • Vector PDF export to improve on the existing raster PDF
  • File import and export support is added for Versions 13 and 14 of Minitab, Version 9 of SAS, Version 19 of SPSS and Version 13 of Symphony

Availability

SigmaPlot version 13 is available in single user, network and site license options for Corporations, Government agencies, academic & R&D institutions. SigmaPlot version 13 has numerous licensing options from a single user package and network licenses to an institution- or company-wide site license. The SigmaPlot Network License offers concurrent license management, allowing you to install the software on as many computers as you need.