Reading: IgniteData collaborates with AstraZeneca on pilot programme

IgniteData, the Reading-based digihealth start-up, has announced a new collaboration with AstraZeneca which aims to revolutionise the way clinical trials are conducted at hospitals.

The collaboration, already meeting critical success factors, involves a technical proof of concept and pilot programme of IgniteData’s digihealth application Archer, designed to enhance interoperability between Electronic Health Records (EHR) and key research applications such as Electronic Data Capture (EDC).

By automating the flow of true regulatory-grade data, Archer addresses one of the largest problems in clinical research affecting virtually every study currently running – the interoperability of data. Described by IgniteData as a ‘virtual research assistant’ working on behalf of the hospital, the efficiencies delivered by this approach include reduced need for manual data entry, monitoring queries and the associated source data verification.

Set to securely transform how eSource-ready hospitals and pharmaceutical sponsors collect clinical trial data, the project uses IgniteData’s technical solution to mirror the traditional manual process, so a head-to-head comparison of methodologies is possible. Archer ensures that individual hospitals retain full control of the data transfer process, while offering a unified solution that works with all major hospital EHR and sponsor’s EDC systems.

IgniteData is backed by Innovate UK and has secured over £1 million in funding from the UK Government over the last 18 months.

Dan Hydes, CEO and co-founder of IgniteData comments, “We’ve committed every penny of investment to create a transformational application to address one of the longest-standing challenges of clinical research globally. This makes the team at IgniteData very proud. From the outset, we designed our model to protect patients and their data, while keeping the hospital in full control, thereby facilitating the automated flow of true regulatory-grade data for the first time. These are just the first steps on a much longer journey to solve this industry-wide problem, and we’re glad to be starting it in the company of AstraZeneca.”

Mats Sundgren, health informatics director, R&D, AstraZeneca says, “Nearly 50% of data used for clinical trials is duplicated across EHRs and EDCs, wasting a huge amount of time and staff resources. If successful, this project has the potential to fundamentally improve the delivery of clinical trials in hospital settings, which ultimately could lead to industry-wide transformational change. ”