RE:RE:When Does Ph 2 First Patient Get Treated?Mid-2015, ICON signed a deal with IBM to improve its clinical trial enrollment process because ICON was rating extremely low on its ability to recruit and enroll patients in clinical trials.
ICON applies IBM Watson clinical trial matching to oncology clinical trials
ICON and IBM to Revolutionise Clinical Trial Feasibility, Patient Recruitment and Study Start-up Timelines
ICON plc, (NASDAQ: ICLR) a global provider of drug development solutions and services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries, today announced that it is working with IBM (NYSE: IBM) to help reduce the time and costs of drug development, while also offering patients enhanced quality of care by connecting them to relevant clinical trials. ICON will tap Watson's cognitive computing power to help automate the cumbersome process of identifying patients who meet the criteria for a clinical trial, and to analyse protocols to assess trial feasibility and identify optimal trial sites.
The cost and time involved in clinical trials is considerable. More than $1.3B is spent on patient recruitment by drug developers each year and yet fewer than 5% of cancer patients participate in a clinical trial. It also typically takes 6-12 months to start up a global phase III drug trial and another 12 months to enroll the required number of patients.
Commenting on the announcement, ICON’s Chief Operating Officer, Dr. Steve Cutler, said: “Recruiting the required number of patients for clinical trials is a constant challenge for our customers and can represent more than 30% of total study costs. By applying IBM Watson to our clinical trials, we have the potential to revolutionise clinical trial feasibility, patient recruitment and study start-up timelines which will help our customers take significant time and cost from their development programmes. Together with IBM, we are also providing a better and faster way to connect patients with clinical trials that are most relevant to them.
4 years later, we see this on ICON's website:
5 June 2019
Technology the Key for Improving Trial Efficiencies & Retention
Learn how the use of technology has become ubiquitous in clinical trials as the industry looks to streamline and improve processes. 9 May 2019 ICON Launches New Patient Engagement Platform to Support Improved Patient Experience and Enrolment in Clinical Trials
Increasing visibility of potential study participants to sites and sponsors
There are other AI softwares trying to shorten the time to enroll patients:
Streamlining Clinical Trials with AI - Saama Technologies
April 4, 2019
A clinical trial involves a set of complex processes, which include writing the protocol, recruiting patients, conducting the study, and culminating in bringing the drug to market. There are many stakeholders involved, in different capacities, to carry out these processes, ensure adherence to regulations, and keep the trial on track.
Here are some of the most important areas of a clinical trial that require constant attention and have a serious impact on the outcome of the trial:
Clinical Study Spend: This is the most critical aspect of a clinical trial that needs to be always monitored. Almost 80% of clinical trials go over budget, for one reason or another, and trial managers are often under pressure to keep the costs down.
Clinical Study Timelines: Extended timelines are often treated as the norm rather than an anomaly during clinical trials. Many factors contribute directly to these extended timelines, some of which are delays and challenges in patient recruitment, site selection, and investigator analysis. Extended timelines directly impact the cost, therefore knowing which trial processes are lagging is essential for a trial manager.