Medidata studies health outcomes in Diabetes community

Written by Alyssa Clark

More than 20 million Americans have been diagnosed with diabetes, that number nearly doubling in the past decade with the ever-increasing lack of physical activity and number of obese people, which has directly contributed to individual and societal costs.

Announcing the sponsorship of its first clinical trial in the diabetes community, Medidata Solutions branches out as a usual provider of cloud-based solutions for clinical research in life sciences and will investigate the impact of mobile and cloud-based technology on patient engagement for improved health outcomes.

Medidata supplies patients with the necessary tools and applications required to effectively track behavioral factors such as weight and amount of physical activity; this “first of a kind” study for Medidata will work to understand if technology can increase the rates of therapy adoption and drive better outcomes for people with diabetes. This study from Medidata will observe mHealth devices that provide immediate feedback to participants and are wirelessly linked to target messaging for unique patient engagement.

Medidata Technology Partner Spaulding Clinical Research, a clinical research solution provider and medical device manufacturer, is heavily involved in the study and will help the mHealth devices connect to the Medidata Clinical Cloud. Withings will supply the mHealth devices which will monitor the physical activity and weight of the study’s participants (Withings is a top innovator in health and wellness smart devices and applications).

The start date of the study is set for the fourth quarter of 2013, to be followed by a randomized clinical trial. The study’s primary investigator is Dr. Zachary T. Bloomgarden, who is a leading endocrinologist and clinical professor of medicine, endocrinology, diabetes and bone disease at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York and is also the co-editor of the Journal of Diabetes.

"We are proud to sponsor our first clinical study in collaboration with Spaulding and Withings to see how disruptive technology can improve patient engagement and actually lead to better medical outcomes," said Glen de Vries, president of Medidata Solutions. "Since our beginning, Medidata has pioneered the use of technology to transform clinical research, and the opportunity to see our technology used to improve patient health in the critical area of diabetes care is a logical--and incredibly exciting--extension."

Founder of Spaulding Clinical Research Randy Spaulding said, "Wireless and personal mobile devices provide opportunities to improve patient engagement because of their ease of use, real-time transmission of data and increased portability and convenience. This collaboration is an important step in bringing these benefits to the real world."

"One of the major challenges in diabetes management is working with patients to adopt lifestyle changes," added Dr. Bloomgarden. "Most diabetics have to live with this chronic condition for a long time, so using personal devices and patient engagement apps to improve quality of life would be very powerful and a huge win for our clinical care models."

About the Author

Alyssa Clark is the Editor of Healthcare Global