MORRISVILLE, N.C. MORRISVILLE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--etrials Worldwide, Inc. (Nasdaq: ETWC - News), a leading provider of adaptive eClinical software and services that optimize clinical trial management by turning data into intelligence and shortening the pathway to an actionable study endpoint, announced today that its automation tool development project is ahead of schedule, allowing the company to streamline its operations, better ensure world-class service delivery capabilities, and better align itself with customer requirements.

“As we’ve previously reported, etrials has been undergoing a series of rigorous Company-wide process improvement and reengineering initiatives designed to improve customer service, streamline internal processes, and at the same time reduce costs,” said Chip Jennings, President & CEO, etrials Worldwide, Inc. “In order to take full advantage of our reengineering efforts, we have accelerated our planned organizational realignment strategy timeline, which we expect to result in modest cost savings in the second half of 2008.”

The streamlining brings all aspects of client facing operations and product development into two functional areas: Technology and Service Delivery. Coincident with these changes, Chuck Piccirillo has been appointed Vice President of Technology and Stuart Thiede has been appointed Vice President of Service Delivery.

• Technology, reporting to Chuck Piccirillo, now consists of product development, application development, quality control/quality assurance and IT. This combination will improve speed and effectiveness with regards to the development and deployment of etrials’ technology solutions.
• Service Delivery, reporting to Stuart Thiede, encompasses all customer-facing operations including project management, global help desk, and CRO Partnership service delivery.

“Chuck has driven significant improvements across our R&D organization,” said Jennings. “Under Chuck’s leadership, the first phase of our tools and automation strategy is being implemented significantly ahead of schedule.”

“Stuart has a long tenure of driving high customer satisfaction and a proven track record of building and managing effective teams which support complex software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions in the pharmaceutical market,” Jennings added. “He has delivered outstanding results in the time he has been with etrials.”

Thiede, who has been running etrials’ project management group since March 1, 2008, served eight years as a senior vice president at Dendrite International, where he managed the company’s operations. Thiede also spent 19 years at Unisys Corporation in several executive level roles, including Vice President Global Alliance, where he was instrumental in successfully structuring the service delivery operations and negotiating the terms for a $50 million program.

About etrials(R)

etrials Worldwide, Inc. (Nasdaq: ETWC - News) a leading provider of eClinical software and services to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, and contract research organizations offers adaptive, Web-based tools that work together to coordinate data capture, logistics, patient interaction and trial management – turning data into intelligence and shortening the pathway to an actionable study endpoint. etrials is one of the only top-tier solution providers that offers electronic data capture (EDC), interactive voice and Web response (IVR/IWR), electronic patient diaries (eDiary) as part of a flexible and integrated software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform or as individual solutions to capture high quality data from multiple pivot points to enable real-time access for perfectly informed decision-making. As an experienced leader, etrials has facilitated over 900 trials involving more than 400,000 patients in 60 countries; and has participated in 33 studies used for new drug applications. To learn more visit us at www.etrials.com. etwcf

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the progress of our automation tool development project and expected future cost savings by the Company, all of which involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those discussed. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, unexpected future technology delays. More information about potential factors which could cause actual results to differ from the forward looking statements included in this announcement is included in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including in the Risk Factors section of the Form 10-KSB filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 10, 2008. All forward-looking statements are based on information available to us on the date hereof, and we assume no obligation to update such statements.

etrials® is the registered trademark in the United States of etrials Worldwide, Inc. Other marks belong to their respective owners and are used with permission.

Lippert/Heilshorn & Associates
Jody Burfening
212-838-3777
jburfening@lhai.com
or
etrials Worldwide, Inc.
Chris Sakell
919-653-3658
Chris.Sakell@etrials.com