By Clinical Research News Staff

May 21, 2019 | Today Verily, an Alphabet company, announced strategic alliances with Novartis, Otsuka, Pfizer, and Sanofi to develop digitally innovative, patient-centered clinical research programs using Project Baseline’s evidence generation platform and tools. The Baseline Platform is designed to engage more patients and clinicians in research, increase the speed and ease of conducting studies and collect more comprehensive, higher quality data, including outside the four walls of a clinic.

Verily and its industry partners aim to implement a more patient-centric, technology-enabled approach to research, and increase the number and diversity of clinical research participants. They will also explore novel approaches to generating real-world evidence using the Baseline Platform to collect, organize and activate health information from electronic health records, sensors and other digital sources. Over the coming years, Novartis, Otsuka, Pfizer and Sanofi each plan to launch clinical studies leveraging the platform across diverse therapeutic areas, such as cardiovascular disease, oncology, mental health, dermatology and diabetes.

"Evidence generation through research is the backbone of improving health outcomes. We need to be inclusive and encourage diversity in research to truly understand health and disease, and to provide meaningful insights about new medicines, medical devices and digital health solutions," said Jessica Mega, M.D., chief medical and scientific officer, Verily, in a press release. "Novartis, Otsuka, Pfizer and Sanofi have been early adopters of advanced technology and digital tools to improve clinical research operations, and together we're taking another step towards making research accessible and generating evidence to inform better treatments and care."

Verily launched Project Baseline in 2017 with the Project Baseline Health Study to develop the technology and tools to help researchers create a more comprehensive, precise map of human health. The company’s interdisciplinary team of engineers, clinicians, scientists and partners have since developed and continue to expand: 

—User-friendly devices, dashboards and analytical tools that create an engaging experience for patients and provide research decision support to study coordinators and researchers; 

—An interoperable platform that provides access to timely, normalized data in order to streamline enrollment and management of studies; and

—A robust infrastructure that enables collection of dynamic data, like electronic health records, biometric or self-reported information, which may provide significantly more context about the value of an intervention.

Verily's Project Baseline has also built a connected ecosystem with the aim of linking patients and advocacy groups with clinicians and health systems, integrating clinical research with clinical practice and making the process engaging. It started with a community of researchers, study sponsors and study volunteers, including Duke University School of Medicine, Stanford Medicine, Google and the American Heart Association (AHA) who helped test tools and technologies in the landmark Project Baseline Health Study.

Next, Verily launched the Project Baseline Advisory Board of luminaries spanning healthcare, technology, medicine and patient advocacy. Then, in early 2019, Verily and the AHA announced Research Goes Red, which will leverage the Baseline Platform to engage more women in research, and an ongoing collaboration to connect patient communities with relevant research opportunities. Finally, this month Verily launched the Baseline Health System Consortium with vanguard health systems in the United States to explore the use of new tools and technology to improve research broadly and help bridge the gap between clinical research and clinical care.

"If we are truly to achieve the realization of patient-centered care, we must advance innovative research methodologies that focus on the patient and their needs, values and lifestyles," said Reed Tuckson, M.D., chairman, Project Baseline Advisory Board. "Project Baseline, in collaboration with these innovative companies, is well positioned to achieve this vision and have a transformative impact on research."

Verily's initial strategic alliances with Novartis, Otsuka, Pfizer and Sanofi strengthen the innovative research ecosystem that will continue to expand and could help foster greater scientific discovery through the creation of next-generation research and development programs.