Novartis worked with Apple’s ResearchKit to develop the FocalView app, announced a statement. The app allows participants in ophthalmology clinical trials to self-record their own data, thus motivating more patients to participate in these trials.
People with eye diseases often have difficulty attending regularly data capture sessions at hospitals, explained Novartis. Thanks to its ability to capture wider and richer amounts of data, the app can therefore provide more accurate results.
Novartis will now test the app in a non-interventional study. It is then expected to launch first in the USA, to be followed later by other markets. The pharmaceutical company is also making the app freely available to researchers.
"We believe apps like FocalView, which we've made freely available to the research community on an open-source platform, can help accelerate the development of treatments,” commented Bertrand Bodson, Novartis Chief Digital Officer, in the statement.
