NEW YORK, August 29, 2022 — A first-of-its-kind patient cohort platform will soon be available to UK and US researchers struggling to recruit patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD), such as pulmonary fibrosis and progressing fibrosis resulting from COVID-19. UK-based company uMed announced the launch of the Access-ILD/PF Cohort at the sixth annual Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) Summit in Boston.
uMed has built a technology that can rapidly identify, directly engage and quickly recruit patient populations at a significantly faster rate for participation in both clinical and real-world studies.
“Research in the life sciences industry is often a long process, especially in the rare disease space, where it can take several years to complete,” said Matt Wilson, MD, founder and president of uMed. “Our pioneering platform is designed to solve the challenges that researchers and patients are facing — delays in new therapies.”
According to Dr. Wilson, the uMed platform connects electronic medical records (EMR) with hospitalization data, patient-reported outcomes, medical device data and even DNA sampling to identify cohorts of patients eligible to participate in various studies. These include clinical trials and prospective observational research. It is the only platform capable of synergistically linking these multiple health data points.
“Right now, there are more than 200 clinical trials in various stages for ILD and PF/IPF,” noted Dr. Wilson. “With such a deep pipeline and more trials on the horizon, there is a significant demand for patient participation. This platform builds on the work we successfully initiated in the UK, with a goal of creating a global cohort to support multiple studies.”
“The tremendous progress we are seeing in how pulmonary fibrosis develops has resulted in several effective therapies,” added Fernando Martinez, MD, executive vice chair of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College and New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. “While there are many active studies to come, a major limitation is identifying patients who would consider participating in a clinical trial. uMed offers a very promising approach that could revolutionize the rapid completion of key clinical studies for patients.”
Another unique aspect of the uMed platform is the inherent trust that the company has built with physicians, enabling them to strike a strategic partnership, engage with their patients and seek consent. Currently, the uMed network covers more than five million patients across the US and UK and will soon expand into Australia. The platform is HIPAA- and GDPR-compliant.
For more information about uMed’s unique platform or to see a demonstration, contact James Dunstan, VP Commercial at james.dunstan@umed.io, +44 (0) 7488 812 678.
