Parexel International has collaborated with Sanofi to investigate and promote the potential use of wearable devices and patient sensors to remotely collect data during clinical trials.

The wearable devices are believed to address different challenges associated with clinical trials and aim to improve patient participation and interaction while creating further opportunities for decentralised trial sites.

The firms intend to use their respective expertise in clinical, scientific, regulatory, logistics and technical fields to establish the use of wearables in optimising the performance of a study and expediting drug development.

In an ongoing single-site study, patient data is being collected simultaneously and remotely through several wearable devices.

As part of the deal, the companies are assessing the process of streamlining the data collected from various wearable devices into a single, scalable data system, which is expected to offer valuable insights.

"We believe the use of wearables to collect data from trial participants represents a breakthrough in the digital transformation within the industry."

Parexel Informatics president Xavier Flinois said: “We believe the use of wearables to collect data from trial participants represents a breakthrough in the digital transformation within the industry.

“Working with Sanofi, we believe we have a strong opportunity to streamline and automate data collection from multiple devices, collect high-quality data remotely and generate meaningful results, all while reducing burden on patients and sites, as well as lowering costs.”

In another joint pilot study, Parexel’s patient sensor solution will be used to illustrate the scientific and medical viability of wearables.

In addition to generating alerts based on the possibly large volume of time-series data from sensors, the patient sensor solution is said to securely capture, transmit, store and monitor data.