Orbita, a provider of voice-first software for connected home healthcare, announced a collaboration with ERT to research innovative new approaches to data procurement and management for pharmaceutical and device customers seeking to streamline clinical trials. The collaboration combines the advanced capabilities of ERT’s EXPERT technology platform for clinical trial data collection, processing, and analysis with Orbita Voice, a first-of-its-kind solution for creating conversational applications using intelligent voice agents such as Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.

“ERT is continually collaborating with clinical trial sponsors and technology experts to ideate and test the application of innovative technologies in clinical development,” said Andrea Valente, executive vice president and chief development officer at ERT. “We’re excited to work with Orbita on this solution and to give patients the power of voice—an important, emerging technology—to complete surveys, verify completion of care pathway tasks and report health concerns, all of which enables pharmaceutical researchers to move ahead in their clinical development programs quickly, and with confidence.”

Orbita Voice is the first healthcare-centric solution designed to easily create and manage intelligent, conversational skills for voice-powered assistants such as Amazon Echo and Google Home. Clinical trial investigators and coordinators use Orbita Voice’s intuitive tools to create interactive voice surveys and collect voice responses, and use built-in analytics to track user engagement and respond to user input.

Using the combined ERT and Orbita solution, clinical trial study coordinators can create and manage care plans by setting care goals, tasks and rules over a specified timeline, including completion of daily pain assessment surveys, wellness tasks, or vitals measurements. Patients and family members can review and manage care tasks via voice as well as in mobile phone and web environments.

Nathan Treloar, Orbita president, said, “We are thrilled to be working with ERT to bring next-generation technologies to the forefront for clinical trial sponsors and participants. ERT’s leadership in the clinical trials industry and their creativity in blending Orbita Voice with the advanced capabilities of their own EXPERT technology platform make them an ideal partner to deliver transformative solutions to this market.”

According to Harry Wang, senior director of research at Parks Associates, “Voice-based UI innovations have huge implications for the healthcare industry, particularly in areas where patient participation, interaction, and engagement is critical to the market success of digital health solutions and services.” This collaboration between Orbita and ERT is a clear example of voice recognition technology’s potential in healthcare and we expect many more use cases that incorporate voice UI to emerge.”

At the end of 2016, 45% of U.S. smartphone owners reported using a voice-enabled personal assistant through an app or dedicated device and that figure rises to 63% of millennial smartphone owners.