Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co. and Eli Lilly & Co. are pooling information about clinical investigators in an effort to speed the clinical trial process and avoid repeating one another's efforts. The databank will make information on investigators' clinical practice training available across the three firms, allowing investigators looking into a new indication or disease to forgo training at one firm if they have already had the appropriate training at another. Reducing the administrative burden will effectively expand the pool of investigators, said Dr. Andreas Koester, chief of clinical trial innovation at J&J unit Janssen Research & Development.