Cheshire, UK (February 2, 2012) Prism Ideas, the multi-national medical marketing and drug development consultants, today announced its collaboration with dMetrics, experts in identifying decisions made by millions of patients online, to launch a pioneering analysis service to evaluate patient healthcare outcomes reported within social media. Combining expertise in language analytics and healthcare, the two companies are interrogating social media to determine patient actions and insights, profiling patient needs, symptoms and response to treatment. The collaboration has already successfully completed projects in disease areas as diverse as allergic rhinitis (hayfever), multiple sclerosis and smoking cessation.
With increasing regulatory and healthcare provider interest in patient-reported outcomes, there is a growing need for technology that can measure and empirically substantiate the benefits to patients of new medical products. Unlike simple keyword-based market research systems, dMetrics’ MIT-founded technology harnesses Big Data to identify who makes decisions, what they decide and why those decisions are made regarding a product, connecting the multitude of voices into a compelling patient narrative. Together, Prism Ideas and dMetrics bring previously unavailable, unbiased insight and analysis of the collective action of many individual patients.
Fully compliant with industry standards of practice in both market research and pharmacovigilance, the reports can be used both for drug development planning and product assessment, providing information on disease epidemiology, symptoms and clinical outcomes, in addition to patient insight and value judgments. For sponsors requiring the rapid and efficient delivery of meaningful and longitudinal data, without the hurdle of long lead times or regulatory committees, this service is designed to provide the ideal solution and can be tailored to a sponsor’s specific requirements.
In a recent study, Prism Ideas and dMetrics designed a protocol and conducted an in silico study for Allergy Therapeutics to establish the level of symptom improvement considered to be meaningful by allergy sufferers. Previously there had been no clinical or regulatory consensus upon this subject, calling into question the value of some medications. Applying their experience and expertise, dMetrics and Prism Ideas were able to capture first person data reports relating to treatment intervention, symptoms impacted and/or outcomes-related sentiment. The results of the study were important, indicating that for many patients relief of even one hayfever symptom such as a blocked nose or sneezing was very important.
Dr Tom Holdich, Research and Development Director for Allergy Therapeutics explains: “Conventional clinical trials and patient market research studies are complex and tend to use questionnaires and grading scales. We needed an approach that would rapidly provide us with the answer to a patient-focused question, one that is very important to their care. The data analysis and report provided by Prism and dMetrics substantiated what had previously been our clinical impression with objective data. There are many potential uses to which this research methodology could be applied.”
James Sawyer, CEO of Prism Ideas comments: “This application of research via social media to the pharmaceutical industry is completely unique and demonstrates our dedication to being at the forefront of innovation. By marrying our expertise with the language processing technology offered by dMetrics, we have successfully developed a powerful mechanism to provide meaningful patient insight data for healthcare providers and the pharmaceutical industry. This advance is very timely and in line with the increasing emphasis on the importance of patient perspective.”
Paul Nemirovsky, CEO of dMetrics comments: “Today, we have an unparalleled opportunity to directly understand patients, in their own unbiased words, through their decisions, online. Being able to eliminate the mystery of consumer decisions is key to understanding behaviour, pulling patients’ individual experiences into a universe of healthcare insights. Our algorithms enable us to pinpoint the relevant decisions within Big Data and identify decision trends. dMetrics’ computer-generated insights, combined with Prism’s expertise in the medical domain allow the healthcare industry to interrogate patient experience in a rapid, accurate, and unbiased manner. Our goal is to help the healthcare industry to optimise their product decisions to directly improve the lives of millions of patients.”
For further information about Prism Ideas, please call +44 (0) 1270 621 724 or visit www.prismideas.com
For further information about dMetrics, please email info@dmetrics.com or visit www.dmetrics.com
About Prism Ideas
Prism Ideas is an independent company providing drug development consultancy and expert medical affairs support to the pharmaceutical industry. The company offers a full range of medical communications services, drug development consultancy and expert medical support throughout the clinical evaluation of drugs from early stage clinical studies through to post-marketing activities.
Prism’s knowledge of industry, together with a thorough understanding of the science, ensures that clinical trials and medical communications maintain the highest scientific quality whilst meeting the needs of the pharmaceutical industry.
Prism currently has offices in the UK, Basel, Switzerland and Boston in the U.S.
About dMetrics
dMetrics harnesses the clutter of Big Data, identifying, within online chatter, everyday decisions made by millions of people. In healthcare, dMetrics’ algorithms utilise a custom deep parsing natural language processing technology to ‘read’ the motivations and perceptions that surround these decisions, translating online chatter into actionable insight about any given product. The industry use for dMetrics data includes brand positioning, targeting drug development, ad-spend optimisation, as well as strengthening regulatory and reimbursement dossiers.
By providing clear, relevant, and simple ways to analyse and dissect decisions, we aim to become the primary resource for crowd-sourced decision insights for people worldwide, in healthcare and beyond.
Headquartered in Cambridge MA, the company has offices in Barcelona and Tel Aviv, with plans to establish a NYC office in 2012.
For further press information please contact: Michelle Valentine, The Scott Partnership, 1 Whiteside, Station Road, Holmes Chapel, Cheshire, CW4 8AA, United Kingdom Tel: + 44 1477 539539 Fax: +44 1477 539 540 E-mail: prism@scottpr.com
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