Novaseek Research, a health IT for life sciences company, has partnered with CoxHealth, an integrated health systems, to support and expand biomedical and clinical research activity. Through this collaboration, CoxHealth and Novaseek will utilize Novaseek’s Clinical Data Network for Research (CDNR) platform to procure, with patient consent and authorization, biospecimens and associated real world clinical data in pursuit of accelerating medical innovation. The agreement also expands Novaseek’s national network of healthcare organizations that supports discovery, translational medicine, observational and clinical studies.

“Novaseek is excited to partner with CoxHealth, one of the largest hospital systems in Missouri and surrounding states,” said Dr. Kate Torchilin, chief executive officer, Novaseek Research. “Novaseek’s objective is to aid researchers in developing better medicine based on better understanding of patients. We also want to help healthcare organizations like CoxHealth balance research engagement with their core mission of providing patient care, as well as giving an opportunity for patients to participate in research.”

CDNR is an award-winning, cloud-based platform that transforms the way healthcare organizations share biospecimens and clinical data with the research community. The platform constantly scans for laboratory biospecimens that match researchers’ detailed clinical criteria, automating what was once a manual process of biospecimen selection and chart reviews. Researchers access CDNR via an intuitive user interface that gives them the ability to define patient cohorts and request biospecimens using population analytics and detailed criteria such as demographics, diagnoses, co-morbidities, lab values, medications and treatment histories. The CDNR makes it possible for Novaseek and its hospital partners to serve complex requests, such as, for example, biospecimens and data collected before and after specific cancer treatments, without the need to burden patients with extra blood draws or complex medical questionnaires. This streamlined approach accelerates research and allows more hospitals and patients to participate in supporting biomedical research. 

“In 2016, CoxHealth was recognized as a ‘Most Wired’ hospital by Hospitals & Health Networks magazine, based on how hospitals across the country are adopting information technology to improve patient care. This same ‘most wired’ philosophy is why we so are excited to employ CDNR to better serve our patients who are interested in participating in research and clinical studies,” said Chris Schulze, director, Clinical Research, CoxHealth. “Through our partnership with Novaseek Research, we are able to expand our patients’ range of options and enable them to participate in advancing scientific research. This collaboration strengthens CoxHealth’s position as one of the most widely recognized hospitals in our region.”

Since launching in 2014, Novaseek has assembled a national network of hospital partners and is enabling its growing research customer base to access real world clinical data and biospecimens in a novel way and to bring medical advances to patients faster.