PointClickCare and Pfizer enter into data sharing agreement

The company will provide data on the senior population at high risk of age-related disorders

There are many barriers that prevent people from participating in clinical trials, including geographical concerns, or simply that the people who would benefit most from them don't know how to sign up. For seniors, those can include age related issues as, typically, clinical trials conducted in adult population include patients between the ages of 18 and 64.

Yet, they are also the fastest growing demographic, with a population that is projected to reach over 80 million by 2040 and over 94 million by 2060. People over 55 also use the majority of healthcare, so excluding them from clinical trials means not getting data on the people most likely to use those drugs and services.

In order to help rectify this, PointClickCare Technologies, a platform that combines a post-acute data set with a full-continuum network, in order to give care teams real-time insights, announced a strategic collaboration with Pfizer to provide the company with insights into the senior population.

Specifically, it will be giving data on those at high risk of age-related disorders, including loss of appetite, malnutrition, involuntary weight loss, and cachexia.

The idea is for Pfizer to take this data and gain a deeper understanding of the long-term and post-acute care demographic as away to create more enriched clinical trials and studies.

“Real world evidence is at the root of an ongoing and critical transformation in health care. By analyzing real world data, we can learn more about a patient population. And those insights can help guide our decisions about developing new therapies,” said Simon Dagenais, Senior Director, Real World Evidence Center of Excellence at Pfizer, in a statement.

“Access to data on comorbidities, medications, vital signs, body weight, and physical function in older adults residing in long-term care through electronic medical records is very important to help us design clinical trials for this patient population.” 

PointClickCare platform is currently being used by over 27,000 long‐term post‐acute care providers, and 2,700 hospitals, meaning it covers nearly 70% of the long-term and post-acute care. Last month, the company launched its Virtual Health offering, an integrated telemedicine solution to Skilled Nursing Facilities.

“Our evidence-rich database can provide insights that specifically represent older adults in long-term care facilities —a population that is often overlooked — to support research by expanding drug discovery and development," Jeff Wessinger, Vice President & General Manager of Life Sciences at PointClickCare, said in a statement.

"We’re proud to support companies, like Pfizer who are doing their part to accelerate research for this demographic and make trials more inclusive, to ultimately improve care outcomes.” 

(Image source: pointclickcare.com)