PHARMACY MARKET
PR Newswire | September 21, 2023
Biofourmis, a leading global technology-enabled care delivery company, announced today the release of its expanded Digital Clinical Trials solution within the Biofourmis platform for biopharma and other life sciences companies. The solution offers robust digital tools and resources for trial sponsors and investigators aimed at accelerating drug development and improving access and diversity while also reducing costs.
Biofourmis' Digital Clinical Trials solution includes a technology-enabled, scalable platform and services that support digital tools enablement, trial decentralization, safety monitoring, personalized care, easier participant recruitment and more equitable access to treatment options for patients everywhere. The solution helps sponsors and researchers accelerate clinical development with remote data collection and novel digital endpoints from Biofourmis' library of biomarkers across multiple therapeutic areas.
The expanded solution offers a more holistic workflow, new data management automations and a seamless integration of essential clinical trial documentation, participant scheduling and data collection elements. Because the artificial intelligence (AI)-powered platform is highly configurable, study start-up timelines can be reduced from months to days. The connected platform seamlessly integrates with 40+ devices, enabling study teams the freedom to select the right device for the right disease area.
Biopharma companies can also tap into Biofourmis' growing principal investigator (PI) network. The network includes experienced and esteemed PIs from leading academic medical centers as a valuable resource to manage digitally driven research and accelerate the pace of recruitment with access to patient databases. Health systems that already use the Biofourmis platform for technology-enabled care delivery at home can easily and quickly expand their clinical research initiatives by leveraging the connected platform to include the Digital Clinical Trials functionality.
"We have consistently earned high satisfaction scores from both researchers and trial participants for our solutions. Now, we have identified additional ways to accelerate access to digital clinical trials, lower costs, and improve the experience for all stakeholders," said Biofourmis COO Jaydev Thakkar. "These new technology and service elements create a more holistic, turnkey solution that achieves those aims while offering greater synergies from drug development to commercialization and creating equitable access to treatment options and clinical research for patients everywhere."
Market-leading enhancements to the Digital Clinical Trials solution include
Robust eConsent and ePROs Capabilities: Robust screening and informed consent tools are integrated into workflows to accelerate recruitment, decrease enrollment time, and help ensure that participants fully understand risks and benefits associated with the trial. The documentation content is easily configurable and compliant with regulatory requirements. The enhanced ePROs (electronic patient-reported outcomes) collection capabilities drive adherence through automated reminders of participants' reporting requirements while offering them the ability to easily share outcomes beyond traditional clinical measures. Reporting flexibility offers investigators increased visibility into participant safety, health and experience.
Dynamic Participant Scheduling: Upon enrollment, the Digital Clinical Trials solution helps research stay on course while encouraging participant adherence and engagement through a virtual visit and schedule of assessment module that streamlines all the "to-do" items for the participant and caregiver, intuitively listing all the required patient reporting and external assessment tasks. Reminders and notifications help participants stay adherent; but if a task is missed, the schedule can automatically adjust so the participant can remain enrolled, and the trial can move forward.
InHome Services: As with all solutions within Biofourmis Connect and Care, In-Home Services such as nurse visits, phlebotomy, infusion, imaging, and other ancillary services delivered within the home are available via the connected platform to support decentralized clinical trials—which further reduces burden on investigators and participants.
Unmatched Safety Monitoring: The solution leverages AI to monitor the efficacy and side effects of drugs. A specific example includes pre-screening for clinical events triggered by high potassium levels (hyperkalemia), which can reduce clinical trial costs by decreasing frequent manual checks by medical professionals while still protecting patient safety. In addition, cardiac safety monitoring capabilities such as auto-detection of QTc prolongation (an extended interval between the heart contracting and relaxing) can improve the safety of trials by detecting patients earlier who are at risk of developing critical heart arrhythmias due to drug side effects.
"Leveraging digital tools and automating and accelerating trial processes for both researchers and participants can increase the likelihood that endpoints will be reached sooner, which lowers costs and simplifies tasks for everyone involved," Thakkar said. "More importantly, shorter trials with more meaningful results mean that groundbreaking new therapies can be discovered and developed faster to improve outcomes for patients worldwide."
About Biofourmis
Biofourmis brings the right care to every person, no matter where they are. The company's AI-driven solution collects and analyzes patient data in real time and identifies shifts that require proactive interventions. This vital innovation provides people everywhere with connected access to hospital-level services, virtual provider networks for remote care, in-home services, and life-changing clinical trials—all without leaving their homes. Trusted by leading health systems, payers, biopharma companies and patients alike, Biofourmis' connected platform improves patient outcomes, prevents hospital readmissions, accelerates drug development, and closes critical gaps in care—ultimately making science smarter, healthcare simpler, and patients healthier.
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PHARMACY MARKET
Business Wire | October 17, 2023
BioMap announced a groundbreaking strategic collaboration with Sanofi to co-develop cutting-edge AI modules for biotherapeutic drug discovery leveraging BioMap’s AI platform.
“As the largest foundational model-based approach within life sciences, we are thrilled to collaborate with Sanofi and leverage the potential of BioMap’s cutting-edge AI engine to help solve complex problems associated with new protein therapies to drive drug discovery,” said BioMap’s Chief Technology Officer, Le Song. “We have built what is essentially a biological map of proteins using data sets from public and private sources to inform our foundational models. Utilizing automation and integrated workflows to enhance the collection of high-quality data, we can catalyze the process of new hit discovery and lead optimization.”
Traditional AI methods require vast amounts of labeled data to make accurate predictions. However, in life science, labeled data are often in short supply. BioMap’s foundational models are revolutionizing AI in biology by enabling one large model, trained on ubiquitous unlabeled data, to inform multiple downstream task models. This approach enables superior prediction from limited data in a range of therapeutic areas, including immunology, neurology, oncology, and rare diseases.
Leveraging BioMap’s custom-built foundational models and world-leading AI expertise, as well as Sanofi’s proprietary data, computational innovations in protein engineering, and deep biologics development experience, both parties aim to create advanced AI models and protein Large Language Models that will enable biologics design and multiparametric optimization.
"By combining Sanofi’s proprietary data sets, digital infrastructure, AI and data science capabilities, and drug development expertise with BioMap’s protein Large Language Models, high-performance computing, and deep understanding of AI, we can optimize the process of discovery and development of breakthrough biotherapeutics,” said Matt Truppo, Global Head of Research Platforms at Sanofi. “Our collaboration with BioMap further underscores Sanofi’s commitment to becoming the first pharma company powered by artificial intelligence at scale.”
Under the terms of the agreement, BioMap will receive an upfront cash payment and near-term payments for reaching module development milestones from Sanofi. BioMap will be eligible to receive payments of over $1 billion based on achievement of pre-clinical development, clinical development, regulatory, and commercial milestones.
About BioMap
Founded in 2020 by Robin Li and Wei Liu, BioMap is a disruptive life science AI company responsible for building xTrimo, the first and largest protein-centric large language model platform. Their technology allows scientists to model life more accurately, from proteins to a system level, and extract novel insights and predictions from limited data. Supported by an international, cross-functional team of over 300 experts, BioMap is solving critical, protein-related drug development problems and charting a course to radically improve patients’ lives.
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PHARMA TECH
Business Wire | September 14, 2023
GoodRx a leading resource for healthcare savings and information, and MedImpact, the independent pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) and health solutions company, announced a new savings solution designed to integrate GoodRx’s prescription pricing in a seamless experience at the pharmacy counter. Now, when an eligible MedImpact member fills a prescription for a generic medication, it will automatically compare their benefit and the GoodRx price and then deliver the lowest one. The amount paid will be applied to the member’s deductible.
“This solution allows us to meet Americans where they are by providing them with low prices on their prescriptions without the need for them to compare costs on their own,” said Cynthia Meiners, Strategic Program Development Officer at GoodRx. “We are bringing together the best of what GoodRx does with the best of what MedImpact does to make it incredibly convenient for MedImpact’s members to start and stay on their prescribed treatments, and to fully integrate their clinical data. We truly feel the future of healthcare lies in these types of integrations.”
The collaboration achieved by integrating GoodRx’s price comparison technology with MedImpact’s advanced technology platform allows both companies to deliver more savings without any additional work on the part of the consumer. In addition, members will benefit from the seamless data integration this program provides. Through MedImpact’s rigorous drug safety review, which includes thousands of health and safety checks, patients will be alerted about any negative drug interactions.
“We are delivering to clients a full portfolio of health, wellness and savings solutions and we see this program as an important part of it,” Marcus Sredzinski, Pharm D, General Manager and MedImpact Senior Vice President. “This delivers hassle-free savings to members, while helping payers capture clinical and adherence data they may have otherwise missed.”
GoodRx is actively working to access new lives by expanding its prescription savings reach by partnering with pharmacy benefit managers and their plan sponsors to collaboratively integrate into the insurance benefit market. Through these programs with CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, and MedImpact, GoodRx savings are seamlessly integrated at point-of-sale with three major PBMs that reach over 60% of insured lives.
This new program will become available to eligible MedImpact members starting January 1, 2024.
About GoodRx
GoodRx is a leading resource for healthcare savings and information that makes healthcare affordable and convenient for all Americans. We offer consumers free access to transparent and lower prices for brand and generic medications, affordable and convenient medical provider consultations via telehealth, and comprehensive healthcare research and information. Since 2011, we have helped consumers save over $60 billion and are one of the most downloaded medical apps over the past decade.
GoodRx periodically posts information that may be important to investors on its investor relations website at https://investors.goodrx.com. We intend to use our website as a means of disclosing material nonpublic information and for complying with our disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. Accordingly, investors and potential investors are encouraged to consult GoodRx’s website regularly for important information, in addition to following GoodRx’s press releases, filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and public conference calls and webcasts. The information contained on, or that may be accessed through, GoodRx’s website is not incorporated by reference into, and is not a part of, this press release.
About MedImpact
For more than 30 years, MedImpact has been building, delivering, and reimagining pharmacy benefit solutions for healthcare payers who face complex and dynamic challenges. As the leading independent PBM, we offer clients the clarity they need to make care and cost decisions; control over a powerful suite of solutions that manage pharmacy spend; and confidence that comes from a proven PBM partner who is fully aligned with their goals and invested in their future.
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