Social nets may aid in trial data collection

Drugmakers stand to gain from the acquisition of ReliefInsite by social-network platform PatientsLikeMe, the disease-centric online community builder. The online ReliefInsite platform provides a secure, HIPAA-compliant way for patients to monitor and report pain levels to their doctors.

ReliefInsite promises to continue supporting its pharmaceutical and clinical clients throughout the platform's integration into the PatientsLikeMe forum. ReliefInsite founder Fred Eberlein leads the integration effort, and the companies promise enhanced product offerings for the life sciences, according to an announcement.

Both PatientsLikeMe and ReliefInsite are drug developer allies in subject recruitment for clinical trials. So is Keas, a provider of Internet-based health-monitoring software that helps patients develop care plans. Such capabilities integrated with social network platforms may also provide researchers with a data collection and reporting tool.

- here's the announcement
- see the article

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