Clinical Ink, a Winston-Salem, N.C.-based provider of eSource solutions for clinical trials, has updated CentrosHealth, a mobile patient engagement platform, to include streamlined connectivity for a wide range of medical devices. Medical device connectivity is powered by the 2net Mobile Platform from Qualcomm Life, a wholly owned subsidiary of Qualcomm Inc. This new platform was developed with cooperation from Novartis and PPD, which also are supporting a pilot clinical study before broad commercial use.

“CentrosHealth delivers a true patient-centric experience by capturing real-time medical device data directly through an app running on a patient’s own cell phone,” said Ed Seguine, CEO, Clinical Ink. “Working with PPD and Novartis to accomplish this ‘lightweight’ approach to capturing device data from patients as part of their normal daily activity has the potential to make study participation more convenient for patients while reducing costs and implementation challenges.”

“Wearable technology and the associated tools have the potential to provide great benefits for PPD, Novartis and many of our clients,” said Mike Wilkinson, Ph.D., executive vice president and chief information officer, PPD. “With PPD’s focus on patient-centric clinical trials, the use of wearable devices integrated with the technologies patients use on a daily basis will help reduce the burden on those who participate in clinical trials. Through ongoing, patient-friendly dialogue and education, this leading-edge technology promises to help us minimize patient dropout, enhance patient communication and safety, and speed the trial process.”

The CentrosHealth platform supports creation of trial-specific mobile apps designed to personalize the patient experience during a clinical trial, expand the frequency and breadth of participant data collection, and enhance participant engagement and compliance. The technology provides trial teams with continuous insight into the patient trial experience, while supplying enhanced information for results analysis.

Through contextually relevant educational content offerings as well as calendar-integrated reminders, SMS communications, email and more, the CentrosHealth Platform helps patients remain involved, informed, compliant and active throughout the clinical trial.

The enhanced CentrosHealth device connectivity offering integrates Qualcomm Life’s 2net Platform and 2net Mobile technologies to enable end-to-end medical device connectivity. Qualcomm Life’s transformational 2net Platform and open medical device ecosystem enable simplified, scalable device deployments, while ensuring medical grade health data integrity, security and privacy.