GlaxoSmithKline to use Apple’s Research Kit for Arthritis study
The long and short is Apple’s ResearchKit is intended to make medical diagnosis apps easier to create by medical professionals. The data collected by the apps on the iOS platform, which Apple says it won’t see and you can opt out of sharing, can be used for enormous research projects.
Although this is almost two years old, the platform has mainly been reserved for clinical studies hosted by universities and medical researchers. Hundreds of thousands of people are already contributing data for studies focusing on asthma, diabetes, breast cancer, autism, epilepsy and melanoma, but now drugmakers are getting in on the act. Almost a year after it said it was readying studies using Apple’s health data-collecting tool, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has confirmed the launch of a new research app to help monitor patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
GlaxoSmithKline Plc has begun a study focused on rheumatoid arthritis with the use of ResearchKit by the iPhone maker. The drug company aims to record the mobility of 300 participants for a span of up to 3 months and will also request the participants to enter any physical and emotional symptoms that they are experiencing. The
application that is developed by Glaxo from Apple Inc’s ResearchKit also features a guided wrist exercise that will utilize the sensors of the smartphone in order to record motion, thereby providing a standardized measurement for the pharmaceutical firm. Glaxo will then make use of the collected results in creating a better design for clinical trials.This arthritis study’s success could aid the drugmaker when it comes to identifying the future appetite of the pharmaceutical sector for utilizing the products of the Cupertino, California-based tech titan when conducting research studies. Drug corporations will have to find and maintain a balance between the lower expenses of using the said application with their capacity to collect data that are reliable and accurate.
By utilizing Apple’s ResearchKit, the pharmaceutical firm may manage to minimize the costs associated with the research, which may reach millions of dollars. According to the head of the clinical innovation and digital platforms group of GlaxoSmithKline Mr. Rob DiCicco, such observational trials may take months or years to enroll participants.
“Certainly you’ve also taken out the site costs, and the costs of having nurses and physicians explaining the studies to them and recording information,” he stated.
For the iPhone maker, ResearchKit serves a building block of the company’s efforts to improve its credentials as a health technology provider.
If the tech corporation will be successful in enticing healthcare providers and pharmaceutical companies to provide services through Apple products, it will also be able to continue building customer loyalty to its devices.
According to Moor Insights and Strategy analyst Yuri Teshler, “Apple is saying ‘let’s make it easier for you to use our products so that consumers can become more dependent on them.’”
The analyst also stated that the ability of the iPhone maker to attract users to track their health will also entice health-care payers and insurance firms in the US health and fitness industry.
“Eventually you’re going to see payers rewarding you for managing your fitness and Apple is going to be in the business of delivering information that payers need,” Teshler stated.
Apple Inc’s ResearchKit framework, which is offered free of charge, has already been used by research institutions when it comes to conducting studies. Some of these institutions include Johns Hopkins University, Mount Sinai Hospital, as well as Duke University.
As of the time of writing, AAPL shares are changing hands at $98.78.
