Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Sutter Health is teaming up with drug company giant Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc. on a five-year research partnership to collect data on patients with chronic lung disease, identify gaps in care and improve communication among providers about treatment options.
The Connecticut-based U.S. subsidiary of the German drug company will work with Sutter doctors and researchers to test digital health programs and mobile technology — and analyze the data to learn how to improve care. No financial details were disclosed.
This is the second research deal with a big drug company Sutter has announced this month. The other one, AstraZeneca, will look at new approaches to care for patients with diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol and other conditions.
The new deal will focus on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The partnership brings together BI’s ability to research and develop new drugs with Sutter’s experience caring for a diverse population of more than 3 million patients across Northern California. Chronic lower respiratory diseases rank third in leading causes of death in the United States. BI has a number of blockbuster drugs on the market that treat the condition, including Spiriva.
The idea is to develop new technologies that lead to a deeper understanding of patient needs and preferences — and free up more time during office visits for doctors and patients to discuss the data and decide what to do without “the doctor clicking through records with his back to you,” Walter "Buzz" Stewart, chief research officer for Sutter Health, explained to me.
The partnership will look at using “wearables” able to track respiration rates or when a patient took a dose of an inhaled drug in order to monitor compliance with treatment and effectiveness. Other data such as pollen counts and information about the local environment will be fed into the mix.
“We’re breaking new ground — and we could not do it without taking on a partner like Boehringer Ingelheim,” Stewart said.
On the flip side, BI knows how to develop medicines, but may get new insight into gaps in health-care delivery that need to be addresses, BI executive director fro business innovation Ruchin Kansal said in a statement.
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