Medidata builds open-source connector to link cloud with Apple’s ResearchKit

Medidata has released the source code for the connector on GitHub, the world’s largest open source community, enabling researchers to create connections between ResearchKit apps and the Medidata platform.

ResearchKit, Apple’s open-source framework, enables developers and researchers to create apps for medical research and brings together sets of personal data from iOS apps.

Kara Dennis, Managing Director, mHealth at Medidata, told Outsourcing-Pharma.com:"There is a strong level of interest among our customer base to use ResearchKit apps to help collect in-life data in clinical trials. However, many clients aren’t yet sure of what it would take to successfully accomplish this from an operational, technological and regulatory standpoint. That’s why the connector we have built is so important. We can show life sciences companies very clearly that there is a path forward to bringing ResearchKit apps into the highly controlled, regulated world of clinical trials. ​

To further the impact that this data can have in clinical research, Medidata has developed a mechanism allowing study builders to map the data generated from ResearchKit apps to studies in Medidata’s electronic data capture system.

The new connector, which Medidata did not work on with Apple, is part of Medidata’s ongoing efforts to unify mobile health devices with cloud-based technologies in a clinical trial setting.

"This integration—like the ones we have developed for other mHealth data sources such as Garmin, Fitbit and Vital Connect—enable customers to use the Medidata platform to manage all their streams of clinical trial data, resulting in a unified clinical record," ​Matthew Noble, Senior Director, Product Management told us.