GSK Rheumatoid Arthritis Study Leverages iPhones As Remote Biosensor Tools

Global healthcare products company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) says that since 2014 they have begun transforming the way they conduct research, by leveraging state-of-the-art digital technologies — a transformation being driven by advances in mobile communications technology and, ’big data’, biosensors.

GSK notes that wearable or remote biosensors and mobile health tools now enable highly detailed and accurate patient physiology and behaviour monitoring — providing information that can potentially improve understanding of a disease and/or a patient’s response to medication. The company has also been conducting clinical studies with biosensors and mobile devices for some time — with researchers monitoring activity and vital signs in patients, and collecting patient feedback helping to improve the quality of data GSK uses to help their decision making in developing new medicines.

The latest innovation in this program is the Patient Rheumatoid Arthritis Data from the Real World (PARADE) study, which uses an iPhone app built by GSK using Apple’s ResearchKit — an Open Source software framework designed specifically for medical research. Study participants’ iPhones are enabled to serve as mobile biosensor devices by GSK’s PARADE app. helping doctors and researchers gather patient data more frequently and accurately.

Recently, Apple upgraded and expanded ResearchKit with the launch of CareKit, a complimentary development framework that enables developers to build apps for empowering users to take a more active role In managing their medical conditions. iPhone apps built using CareKit make it easier for users to keep track of care plan schedules, to monitor symptoms and medication, and to share information with doctors, care teams, or family members about their health and any change in condition.

GSK claims to be first in the industry to use Apple’s ResearchKit as part of their research, and while they’re not testing a medicine right now using the technology, they explain that a medicine’s development process starts with learning from real patients and including their insights and health goals in the research.

“Our goal is to engage with patients in a new way that integrates the research into their daily lives versus the traditional model that requires patients to travel to their doctors’ offices. By making research as easy and accessible as possible for patients, we have the potential to disrupt the model for how we conduct research in the future and ultimately improve patient health.” observes Rob DiCicco, Vice President, Clinical Innovation, GSK in a news release.

GSK is seeking volunteers to monitor their health and share insights of how Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) affects their lives,. The study will use the GSK PARADE app to conduct surveys and the iPhone’s sensors to collect and track common symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis: joint pain, fatigue, and mood. It will also track activity and quality of life measures for 300 patients over a three-month period. GSK hopes persons 21 years or older and diagnosed with RA, will consider participating in the study, which will not provide diagnosis or treatment, but patients using the PARADE app wil have access to a dashboard containing their personal data in the study, enabling them to view their own study data and learn more about their condition, which they’ll also be able to share with their healthcare providers to support conversations about treatment plans.

For more information and/or to download the free PARADE app, visit: https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1116992030

and:
http://us.gsk.com/en-us/our-stories/how-we-do-randd/can-an-iphone-transform-the-way-we-monitor-and-improve-patient-health/

Source: GSK

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