IBM Watson partnership to remove ‘drudgery’ of clinical trial enrollment
Using the artificial intelligence (AI) platform, there is no need to manually compare enrollment criteria with patient medical data, according to the company.
Glenn Loomis, chief medical operations officer at Health Quest said in a statement, “Watson for Clinical Trial Matching allows us to improve patient access to advanced clinical trials by removing the drudgery of manually searching through charts to quickly match patients with the best clinical trials for their condition.”
IBM Watson for Clinical Trial Matching also enables health care providers and patients to consider clinical trials and possibly boost oncology care through further research. In 2018, the Mayo Clinic reported that IBM Watson for Clinical Trial Matching demonstrated an 80% increase in clinical trial enrollment.
Positioning patients to possibly enter clinical trials is something IBM strives for, Kyu Rhee VP and chief health officer, IBM Watson Health said in a statement. “While clinical trials offer patients access to promising new and emerging treatments only 5 percent of adult patients with cancers participate in clinical trials. As a result, 80 percent of clinical trials fail to meet enrollment timelines and requirements,” he said.
Health Quest currently uses Watson Care Manager, another member of the IBM Watson family, to categorize unstructured care management notes and identify gaps in care.
IBM is working with companies, including pharma giants Pfizer and Boehringer Ingelheim, as well as the contract research organization (CRO) Icon.
