Exco InTouch, a provider of patient engagement, data collection and communication solutions for the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors, has joined the Electronic Patient-Reported Outcome (ePRO) Consortium, a program run by nonprofit Critical Path Institute (C-Path), which strives to enhance the quality of patient reported outcomes (PRO) in the evaluation of new pharmaceuticals. 

The ePRO Consortium is committed to improving the quality, practicality and acceptability of electronic data capture (EDC) methods used in clinical trials for PRO endpoint assessment. As PRO endpoints have become increasingly common in studies for evaluating patients’ perspectives of a particular drug, the requirement for better measures of patients’ experiences has become even more critical. Exco InTouch will work closely with other Consortium members from a number of industry-leading providers of innovative electronic data collection technologies, to develop guidelines for the adaptation of PRO measures to the appropriate ePRO solutions.

“Exco InTouch is delighted to join the ePRO Consortium to help advance the science of electronic data capture and create standardized guidelines to ensure all data collated electronically in clinical trials is valid and reliable,” said Tim Davis, CEO of Exco InTouch. “The Consortium provides a neutral and collaborative environment for the industry to work together to develop and advocate consistent approaches for drug development.”

The ePRO Consortium will generate measurement equivalence data, develop specification documents and data standards and produce methodological guidance on measurement issues related to ePRO applications. The association will also work closely with C-Path’s PRO Consortium, a group of 25 pharmaceutical companies working to develop novel PRO measures, with the goal of making these new measures available for electronic data capture formats. The aim of the program is to enhance public health by optimizing the value of PRO data in medical product evaluation and clinical decision making.