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'Internet of Things' For Parkinson’s R&D

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CIOL 'Internet of Things' For Parkinson's R&D

Internet of Things, or IoT, is becoming big and bigger. Pfizer, the pharmaceutical giant sees IoT as a gold mine which can prove critical in the field of medicine especially for a disease like Parkinson’s.

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IoT in medicine is the connectivity of physical objects like medical devices to collect and exchange data. Pfizer is partnering with computer titan IBM to develop a system of sensors, mobile devices and machines that could deliver real-time, around-the-clock disease symptom monitoring of Parkinson’s patients to clinicians and researchers.

Peter Bergethon, Vice President and head of quantitative medicine at Pfizer, explains that Pfizer’s motives inIoTare both research oriented and commercial.

“We need to understand not just why we’re making someone symptomatically better, but we also need to identify earlier on who needs the drug and if we’ll be able to make a difference in the disease progression,” Bergethon said in an interview with Forbes.

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CIOL 'Internet of Things' For Parkinson's R&D

Pfizer aims to begin a clinical trial using the IoT in 2018 and enroll up to 200 research participants, both control subjects and those with Parkinson’s disease who are already undergoing existing therapies to manage their symptoms.

Pfizer and IBM haven’t built its IoT prototype yet, and Bergethonsays he can’t yet divulge details on what it might physically look like. But explains that the monitoring device would be easy to operate and noninvasive so that patients could use it at home in their daily lives without the help of a doctor or other assistants. For example, patients might place a wearable sensor on their elbow or wrist. That sensor would be connected to other sensors, medical devices, and applications through online computer networks.

Though neither company is commenting on the investment costs, on the research side, an IoT could have cost savings for Pfizer–and other pharma companies that pursue such technology. Clinical trials are enormously expensive, and if drug developers could find out sooner if a drug is or isn’t working, that could save money no matter the outcome of the trial.

Pfizer already has plans to test its Parkinson’s compound PF-06649751, currently in Phase 1, alongside the IoT in Phase 3 clinical trial in 2019.

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