Sanofi-synthelabo chemical development and the development of an electronic laboratory notebook

Past attempts to develop electronic laboratory notebooks (ELN) have not always met with the success expected of them. This may have been due to job aspects and the difficulties encountered in their practical application, insufficient support provided to users during the learning phase, application complexity, interfacing problems with preexisting information systems, and the necessary integration of regulatory and legal aspects. Sanofi-Synthelabo adopted a different approach by emphasizing practical application and user support while putting the regulatory aspects to one side. An ELN model was developed on the basis of initial user-derived specifications, and a prototype was then produced, known as Kalabie (Klee business software). This ELN is sufficiently flexible to be shaped for different specialized chemical development sectors (synthesis, automates, preparative chromatography) and interfaces with preexisting in-house Oracle and MDL databases, thus supporting multisite extensions as a user-friendly intranet application. Technicians, scientists, and managers were happy with Kalabie when it entered service. Work is ongoing to extend the use of the ELN and to integrate the regulatory aspects.