Jul 12 2010
Acurian announced today that it has been granted EU privacy certification from TRUSTe, the leading Internet privacy and security assurance program. TRUSTe will provide Acurian with third-party privacy claims and dispute resolution services, which will allow Acurian to broaden its patient recruitment and retention services in Europe. Acurian will display the TRUSTe seal of assurance on its websites.
“This certification confirms us as a global leader for patient recruitment. This is an important part of our ongoing efforts to comply with international privacy requirements.”
"Pharmaceutical companies want to move globally and they want partners that can move with them," said Andrew Fichter, J.D., Ph.D., chief privacy officer at Acurian. "This certification confirms us as a global leader for patient recruitment. This is an important part of our ongoing efforts to comply with international privacy requirements."
Both the United States and the European Union highly value privacy protection for citizens, but their standards for privacy differ. Acurian ranks among the U.S. companies that are qualified to process personal health information from EU residents by virtue of its compliance with the EU Safe Harbor requirements developed by the U.S. Department of Commerce pursuant to the European Commission's Directive on Data Protection.
One requirement of the EU Privacy Directive is the availability of an independent third party to administer a dispute resolution process. Acurian's new relationship with TRUSTe satisfies this requirement. To attain the privacy certification with TRUSTe, Acurian had to undergo a month-long review, a documentation process, and a stringent testing period of their data security.
According to Fichter, "Acurian's major pharma clients are eager to undertake global product certification. They are trying to achieve approvals concurrently in the U.S. and worldwide. Our ability to recruit in Europe removes one obstacle in that process."
Source Acurian