Oracle: New platform to scale use of myriad data sources in clinical trials

10-Apr-2018 - Last updated on 10-Apr-2018 at 16:41 GMT

(Image: Getty/ismagilov)

The mobile health platform from Oracle Health Sciences enables clinical study teams to collect remote patient data from sensors, wearables, and apps – and promises to deliver “a new level of patient centricity.”

The Oracle Health Sciences mHealth Connector Cloud Service “is a scalable and extensible platform designed to quickly adapt to the myriad number of evolving data sources while delivering data in near-real-time to multiple systems and stakeholders,” said Jonathan Palmer, senior director of product strategy at Oracle Health Sciences.

“Oracle mHealth enables organizations to quickly and easily embrace new data sources at scale and use within their clinical trials,” he told us.

Palmer said the new offering will help organizations “explore how digital approaches can change the way we engage with patients, acquire and interpret research data, to gain deeper insight into patient data to advance research.”

Oracle is currently working with several mobile health (mhealth) providers to integrate device data into Oracle’s eClinical system, Clinical One, which was launched in June 2017.

“We feel that we are breaking ground with new mHealth device providers vs others in the market,” Palmer added.

Changing clinical research

As the industry continues to explore digital approaches to clinical trials, Palmer said there is a growing desire for clinical trial teams to rapidly and effectively embrace new sensors – “without the burden of complex IT projects.”

As Palmer explained, the ability to measure patient data remotely, “promises to provide deep insight into a patient’s physiological or behavioral measures as measured in the real world environment which could help radically change the way we do clinical research today.”

Remote monitoring will also deliver “a new level of patient centricity,” as patients will be able to remain at home and visit clinical trials sites less frequently. This, “in addition to changing the way we conduct clinical research,” Palmer said.

“We believe that the industry is on a transformational journey,” he added, “and at Oracle Health Sciences we want to provide enablement to explore new methods of patient engagement and acquisition as easily as possible, while lowering the barriers for therapeutic teams to embrace new digital mechanisms at scale across the research enterprise.”