AbbVie is developing an algorithm for determining the level of burden a protocol would put on trial participants.

Allam Fakhoury, senior director and head of portfolio design and execution at AbbVie, said the company used about 700 responses to an online survey by Inspire, a social network for patients and caregivers, to create a pilot scoring system for five indications – rheumatologic disease, dermatologic disease, inflammatory bowel disease, hematological malignancies and solid tumors.

ZS, a global consulting and analytics firm, assisted AbbVie with defining the burden score based on four factors – procedural, convenience, lifestyle and caregiver considerations – that were identified before the pandemic. ZS provided similar assistance and funding to the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development (CSDD) to develop its own algorithm that is highly predictive of patient burden in trials (CenterWatch Weekly, Feb. 22, 2020). CSDD unveiled its algorithm in February.