Dassault Systèmes has entered into a clinical trial technology pact with French public health research institute Inserm. The alliance will see Dassault provide its 3DEXPERIENCE platform to Inserm support research collaborations, and receive data in return to validate its scientific models in anticipation of the development of new clinical trial technologies.
Inserm's use of Dassault technology is at the center of the collaboration. The health research center is adopting the technology to support a range of tasks across its research activities in aging, cancer, genomics and microbiota. Specifically, Inserm will rely on Dassault for software to help manage its laboratories and perform biological and chemical modeling and simulation. Data will flow in the opposite direction, with Dassault pulling in information from Inserm research programs to help calibrate and validate scientific models it sees supporting the development of new technologies.
In particular, Dassault is looking to the data to aid its development of technologies for use in clinical trials, a sector in which it thinks it can help to cut the time it takes to demonstrate safety and efficacy. "Introducing capabilities such as modeling and simulation coupled with big data science into translational science, opens up new horizons for investigation," Dassault CEO Bernard Charlès said in a statement. "This fusion of advanced clinical research and the virtual world is a stepping stone to the future of precision medicine."
As it stands, Dassault is better known for applying its 3D capabilities to laboratory work and settings outside of life sciences than the "virtual trials" envisaged by Charlès. The team behind some of the company's offerings is set to be bolstered by Dassault's acquisition of full ownership of an Indian joint venture. Dassault formed the joint venture, 3DPLM Software, with Geometric. And, with Geometric now being acquired by HCL Technologies, has decided to take full ownership of the 2,000-person operation.
- read the Inserm release
- here's the JV statement