PicnicHealth and Komodo Health are placing an emphasis on real-world evidence research of complex illnesses like multiple sclerosis and hemophilia. 

Earlier this week the two companies announced a partnership to use their products jointly to create a deep real-world patient data pool using de-identified data from payers, providers, labs and electronic health records.

Specifically, PicnicHealth, a healthcare technology company, will combine its database of de-identified patient medical records with data from Komodo’s Healthcare Map, which analyzes the connections between individual patient journeys and large-scale health outcomes. 

The data from PicnicHealth and Komodo's Healthcare Map will be available to researchers from the biopharmaceutical and academic communities.

The partnership stands to strengthen both companies’ product offerings and could be used to support research in a number of areas, including cancer, rare diseases and chronic conditions, Jason Prestinario, head of healthcare solutions at Komodo Health, told MobiHealthNews. 

Leaders at PicnicHealth and Komodo Health hope that their enriched data offering will help researchers overcome challenges such as following patients as they move between providers and healthcare organizations, and clinical research settings that produce limited insights.

“By pairing their own proprietary data with Komodo's data, PicnicHealth will be able to offer a more complete, longitudinal view of patient experiences, especially for complex, difficult-to-manage diseases,” Prestinario said. 

WHY IT MATTERS

Clinical studies often lack a diverse pool of patients and are encumbered by limited time frames. 

Between 1997 and 2014, the number of ethnic minorities in clinical trials increased by about 7%, according to Nature. 

Clinical trials also struggle to allow researchers to track patients’ responses to various therapies over time. According to Alzheimer’s & Dementia, the end-to-end process of developing a drug takes an average of 12 years.

Real-world data can offer researchers a leg up by providing a large, diverse and nuanced look at patients’ experiences over time. 

For complex diseases like multiple sclerosis and hemophilia, which are particularly challenging to study, real-world data could have a significant impact. 

“Patients have always been at the center of medical research, but today, real-world data offers an entirely new opportunity to better understand clinical outcomes outside the context of a clinical trial,” Prestinario said.

“Medical claims, EHRs, labs, patient-reported outcomes, wearables and other sources offer rich insight into the real-world experiences of patients over time as their disease progresses, or as their medication changes.”

THE LARGER TREND

In March, Komodo, a healthcare data analysis startup, closed a $220 million Series E funding round and a subsequent $3.3 billion valuation.

The use of real-world data is seeing a push.

During a HIMSS Accelerate Health event in March, Christopher Boone, VP and global head of health economics and research outcomes at Abbvie stressed the value of real-world data not just in overcoming the limitations of clinical studies, but also in evaluating the quality, safety and effectiveness of therapies in a real-world context. 

The conversation surrounding real-world data collections is happening at every level of the healthcare industry. Pharmaceutical companies and research institutions are looking to modernize clinical trials and, at the regulatory level, agencies like the FDA are pivoting to keep up with the evolution of real-world data collection. 

ON THE RECORD

“Komodo Health and PicnicHealth share a mission to utilize health data to better understand disease,” said Noga Leviner, CEO and cofounder of PicnicHealth. “Through this collaboration, we will pool our combined capabilities to work toward a deeper understanding of patient histories, treatment patterns and therapeutic outcomes in the real world.

"We are excited to be tapping into the breadth and depth of Komodo’s Healthcare Map to drive groundbreaking clinical research that can ultimately benefit patients suffering from complex diseases.”