For decades, trial research remained siloed, with findings carefully guarded against competing institutions. However, these data silos limit drug development, slowing down clinical trials and making them less effective.
Researchers are starting to share their findings on a global scale while turning to the data insights of their peers. At Anju Software we have developed a tool with this data sharing in mind. Get to know our TA Scan aggregation tool and why our system is the future of trial data sharing.
Aggregate Data Sources To Grow Your Knowledge
One aspect of research that slows down treatment development is the siloed nature of current publications. Researchers aren’t able to easily share their findings globally and other trial developers can’t tap into large data piles to understand what those findings mean. This is a particularly serious issue in the world of rare disease research, where the small patient pools limit the types of trials available and the amount of funding for them.
“Lack of access to patient data lessens the value of any specific program because individual companies and institutions are unable to accumulate a critical mass of knowledge that can substantially de-risk drug development,” write Nathan Denton, et al., in the Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases. “All stakeholders can contribute various pieces of a biological puzzle that can illuminate the full spectrum of disease when made available in shareable states.”
TA Scan works to create a single source of truth for your trial research. You can mine data from hundreds of public domain sources, including 400,000 unique clinical trials taking place in almost 200 countries. With global communication, you can move your research forward to benefit patients across all walks of life.
Receive Weekly Updates on the Latest Research
Clinical trial developers are starting to see the benefit of breaking down research silos for other parts of the research process. While researchers have historically hoarded data, there are growing calls to share insights so other developers can learn from your findings.
David Shaywitz, co-author of “Tech Tonics: Can Passionate Entrepreneurs Heal Healthcare With Technology?”, compares siloed clinical trial data to the Ark of the Covenant from Indiana Jones. You have incredibly valuable information that gets locked away in a warehouse once the trial is completed.
“There is a huge missed opportunity when pharma teams silo data (which were collected to answer a specific, defined question) rather than make the data easily available for further exploration or query,” Shaywitz writes.
To continue the data democratization process, TA Scan sends weekly data updates that share studies from 22 clinical trial registries around the world. These registries contain 2 million healthcare professionals, 6.5 million publications, 630,000 presentations, and 260,000 unique drugs spread over 525 therapeutic areas. The era of siloed medical research is coming to an end.
Enjoy Improved Trial Feasibility Testing
Another way that researchers use data from other trials is to conduct feasibility studies. Feasibility studies determine whether a trial has the potential to succeed. If contract research organizations can’t recruit the right patient populations or complete the trial as expected, then it’s a waste of time, money, and resources for everyone involved. Unfortunately, these feasibility analyses themselves have proven to be expensive and time-consuming.
A research statement published by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) asserts that the current processes for trial feasibility analyses are inconsistent, ineffective, and labor-intensive.
“Stakeholders who participated…described existing site feasibility methods as burdensome, inefficient, time-consuming, redundant, and resource intensive,” writes ASCO. “They also reported that the process causes delays in time to enrollment and affects the capacity for sites to participate in clinical trials, particularly smaller research programs with limited resources and infrastructure.”
TA Scan’s Trial Feasibility Wizard uses historical public clinical trial data to identify factors that could limit the effectiveness of a trial design. It also looks for competing clinical trials with similar features to analyze their success. With this information, you can improve your trials via better feasibility assessments.
Data Sharing Leads to Faster, Better Treatments
With improved feasibility analyses, trial developers can increase the chances that their projects are completed on time and with reliable results. With data sharing, other researchers can improve their research on related diseases to create better patient outcomes. The ultimate goal in medical research is to improve the lives of patients and the best way to do that is through collaboration. Our TA Scan tool is one small step toward better data sharing and aggregation.
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