Former Google, NASA Engineer Moves into Digital Clinical Studies

Former Google, NASA Engineer Moves into Digital Clinical Studies
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QOLTY

Alex Wormuth is an enviable guy. An engineer who’s worked for Google and NASA, Wormuth is now in the business of taking clinical studies online. He founded Qolty, a digital clinical study company, in an effort to make clinical studies a little more modern and increase the convenience of participating in such studies.

In the past, clinical studies and trials meant patients would have to visit a clinic during different time frames to participate in the study - for example, Month 1, 3, 6, and 9. Doctors would then take data-like surveys on paper and complete a physical examination to find out if the drug in question was proving to be effective.

No more.

Qolty, the app designed by Wormuth, allows clinical studies to be done online. The app can deliver questions to participants on an ongoing, scheduled basis - daily, weekly, monthly, or bimonthly. Objective testing, such as motor function testing, can be completed via the app without requiring a physical visit to the clinic doing the study.

What does this mean for clinical trials and the medical field in general? New diseases can be studied in a more effective manner, and chronic diseases like diabetes, pain states, and stroke recovery can be more easily monitored.

The cost of a single clinical study or trial can be drastically cut, from costing millions of dollars to a few thousand. This increases the chance that new, effective drugs will make it to the market and offer relief to patients that need them.

Additionally, it makes it possible to discover new ways the drugs being tested can help or effect patients because of the multitude of new data points available to the study organizers through the Qolty app.

What the app does

QOLTY

Qolty has several advanced features (founder Wormuth is an ex-Google and NASA guy, remember?) like:

A) Cadence: Artificially intelligent survey delivery to maximize response rates

B) Corridor: Geo-fencing patients to deliver them questions based on their location, so Qolty might ask "Did you just visit the hospital?" or "You should remember to pick up your medications" (when it detects you haven't yet gone to the pharmacy).

C) Calor: Advanced heat mapping analytics to see if patients thoroughly read the instructions for the trial or study

D) Sight: Video transmission, to prove you've taken medications or in order to do assessments of a patient's home for safety

Qolty is already gaining traction. It’s being used in a variety of clinical studies so far:

  • USC - Parkinson's activity tracking
  • USC - PRO integration
  • UCLA - Alzheimer's activity tracking
  • CHLA - Obesity weight & activity tracking
  • Lurie Children's - Medication adherence
  • Lurie Children's / Pfizer - Cancer survivor quality of life tracking

For more information on Qolty, you can visit the website at Qolty.com.

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