Statistical Solutions
Statistical Solutions is a developer and distributor of statistical software mainly in the niche clinical trials market. The origins of this company can be traced to 1984 with the establishment of a company called BMDP statistical software, a Los Angeles based company with a European subsidiary based in Cork, Ireland. BMDP launched the very first statistical software package, named after the company; designed for use by general as opposed to niche markets. In exchange for government funding BMDP made the algorithms behind its software package available to the public domain. Mary Byrne who would later become the CEO and managing director of Statistical Solutions, lead a buyout of the European subsidiary in 1995. Thus the former subsidiary became an independent Irish firm by the name of Statistical Solutions.
Initially Statistical Solutions had intended to operate in the general application software market; however a number of events triggered the redirection of the company’s focus. They set about developing a new and innovative software programme to address a statistical phenomenon called 'missing data' which threatened to compromise the validity of clinical trials. With the aid of Harvard scholar Dr. Donald Rubin ( ) the company developed 'Solas', one of the world's first software package to fill the gaps in missing data using a sophisticated technique called multiple imputations.
Around the same time Statistical Solutions also successfully negotiated the global exclusive distribution rights to a product called nQuery Advisor. Today this product is one of the top software product in clinical trials, appearing in several notable journals and articles. The product if often used to calculate the optimal sample size for a study
Another product, BMDP, has been used in interesting studies recently. For example, use of the product can be seen in a study entitled "Reliability and Reproducibility of the Edmondson Grading of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Using Paired Core Biopsy and Surgical Resection Specimens", where BMDP was used to statistically analyse the data.
Solas is regarded as one of the two leading products worldwide utilised in the area of missing data analysis.
As a Cork based company, Statistical Solutions are members of IT@Cork. Statistical Solutions details can be seen on the Enterprise Ireland website
Further details about the company can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVWJKYTfSJM.