Spanish pharma Almirall has signed on to participate in a patient-driven project to collect and reutilize clinical trial participant data for further research or in healthcare practice.
The Innovative Medicines Initiative project, dubbed FACILITATE, is intended to reform the current practice of clinical data being isolated in separate repositories and unable to be used outside a specific clinical trial.
The project, which is based on a patient-centered, data-driven technology platform, currently has 27 partners from 17 EU and non-EU member states that represent patient associations, hospitals and universities, as well as innovative small and medium-sized enterprises. Also participating in FACILITATE are members of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) and the Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, which is coordinating the project.
For its part, Almirall will provide expertise in privacy and pharmaceutical law issues, as well as helping to develop guidance, standards and recommendations for the return of clinical trial data to patients, the pharma said in a Nov. 28 press release. The skin health-focused company will also share its expertise in the specification of clinical trial use cases, stakeholder requirements and the development of end-user tools.
“The launch of FACILITATE further advances patient empowerment in clinical trials [and] we are excited to contribute to this patient-driven IMI project with our solid experience in clinical trials and our commitment to ethics and transparency,” Diego Herrera, Almirall’s FACILITATE project leader, said in the release.
In early 2021, Almirall acquired exclusive rights in Europe to commercialize Wynzora for the treatment of plaque psoriasis from MC2 Therapeutics. Almirall's focus on psoriasis also includes Ilumetri, an IL-23 inhibitor licensed from Sun Pharmaceuticals, and the immunomodulator Skilarence.