According to the two Triangle companies, Quintiles is now a client of Validic.

“The digital health landscape is moving fast, enabling patients to play an increasingly active role in managing their health,” said John Reites, head of digital health acceleration at Quintiles. “Working with Validic, a leader in cloud-based, digital health platforms, Quintiles is providing customers with enhanced digital health device integration including wearables, apps and medical devices. We believe that these new data sources will simplify and enrich the broader research experience for our biopharmaceutical customers, researchers and patients.”

According to a spokesperson from Validic, with the deal, Quintiles will gain access to secure and actionable patient-generated data from digital health devices and applications that will enable Quintiles to:

  • Create patient communities around disease states. These patient communities will enable quicker and more accurate pre-trial recruitment for drugs related to specific conditions. Identifying which patients are most appropriate for specific clinical trials is said to account for about 70 percent of the total costs of clinical trials.
  • Capture remote activity and biometric data from participants during all phases of a clinical trial. Remote monitoring means trial participants can submit key vital signs via a mobile device back to clinicians, and the need to conduct costly in-person evaluations diminishes. Not only does continuous and passive monitoring allow researchers to better zero in on potential side-effects, but since participants do not need to drive to a clinic several times a week for biometric readings, the necessary information can be amassed more quickly and conveniently, meaning trial lengths – and therefore costs – can be decreased significantly.
  • Monitor the long-term efficacy of a drug post clinical trial. Even after Food and Drug Administration approval, the FDA and pharmaceutical companies still need to ensure its effectiveness and monitor for any side-effects. Using digital health technologies, these organizations can better engage and gather data from users to determine if it is doing what it is supposed to do. Such surveillance can result in an understanding of the drug’s real world, long-term value. As such, pharmaceutical companies can make adjustments or recalls, sooner rather than later – avoiding the costs associated with large-scale recalls or court settlements.
  • Assist in independent research studies, not related to clinical trials. Pharmaceutical companies will often come to Quintiles for analysis and market research into a particular disease state. They need evaluation of how many people are suffering from a particular, and possibly rare, condition. Determining the market size of a particular disease state can help pharmaceutical companies understand the costs and associated investments of moving forward with a clinical trial.

The partnership was announced late last Friday, and went into effect immediately, said a spokesperson for Validic.

Digital health’s impact on the pharmaceutical industry is only just beginning to be explored. Connected health technologies are providing new opportunities for data to be leveraged in clinical studies, remote monitoring and drug-device combination therapies. Across the drug development continuum, data is key at every phase, including participant recruitment. Digital health presents a unique opportunity to help pharma and their research partners maximize efficiency of getting a drug to market by driving speed and reducing costs. These sensors, wearables and applications are also being used to help remedy key issues plaguing the healthcare system, such as medication adherence and compliance.

The companies continue to bet that the pharmaceuticals industry is going to be disrupted by digital health. According to Validic, the remote data generated from digital health devices, filtered through Validic software, can deliver the necessary insights needed to:

  • Combat the 70% of costs associated with identifying patients for specific trials through patient communities;
  • Eliminate the need for costly in-person evaluations by capturing remote activity and biometric data from participants during clinical trials; and
  • Avoid high costs associated with large-scale recalls by leveraging digital health technologies to better engage and gather data from users.

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the deal was made on Friday. The deal was announced on Friday.