i3 - May/June 2016 - 11

courtesy Fibit

Tech

ing investments in neuroscience, long a drug development minefield. Venture firms are armed with
new funds to spend on startups, focused on how to
move those ideas forward in the real world.
A major catalyst for disruption in biotech is the
rise of wearables, sensors and applications that
remotely collect consumer wellness or health data.
This underscores the significant role that wearables
and smartphones have within the context of clinical trials. These wearables capture data, whether
for personal wellness monitoring, corporate
wellness programs or data collection for clinical
research purposes.
With the increased flexibility and convenience of
remote monitoring via mobile devices, clinical trials
can include a more diverse subset of participants-
without incurring the additional costs associated
with managing multiple study sites in geographically dispersed locations. Digital tools are enabling
the streamlining of clinical trials to be more
efficient and effective. It is also permitting data
collection that was previously not accessible as part
of a drug study mix. It is generating more reliable
data instead of relying on a participant's recall or
willingness to share 'negative' data. These devices
also aid researchers to discern trends outside of
clinical settings.
As a consequence of enabling the collection of
larger sets, these consumer-facing mobile devices
and apps hold the potential for changing the way
clinical trials are fundamentally designed, and
shortening the time it takes drugs to get to
market. Companies will be able to bring a
drug to market more efficiently and costeffectively. Developments in personalized
medicine will accelerate and offer major
opportunities to improve the patient experience and outcomes, driving increased productivity and economic growth while reducing
health costs.
By taking the clinical study into the
real world, the data and the device usage
are also facilitating improved patient care
through enhanced medication adherence
and compliance support. Pharmaceutical
companies are starting to leverage 'digital
wraparounds'-where an app is paired with
a specific medication and another service is
wrapped around that app to help improve
patient behavior. For instance, an app could
provide alerts to ensure that the patient
C TA . t e c h / i 3

"Imagine
cutting and
pasting
genes in
DNA, just
like editing
words in a
document on
a computer."

takes a prescribed drug at the appropriate time. In
addition, these wraparound apps could help build
patient communities, where connections could be
made with people with similar conditions to drive
further engagement.
As digital health matures and becomes more
accepted by the greater pharmaceutical community,
data will be leveraged to improve clinical trials and
the drug discovery process, including the growing
connectivity that is putting the fruits of biotech
research into the hands of many people. Wider participation holds the potential to accelerate progress.
MAY/JUNE 2016

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i3 - May/June 2016

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