Trial subjects and patients alike forget things, and that can affect clinical trial data as well as treatments. That fact served as the genesis within Merck of a group whose mission is to take full advantage of IT in the medical care of people.
The internal group, called Technology Innovation for Human Health, helped earn the drug giant spot number 4 on this year's InformationWeek 500 list. Also representing biopharma on the list are Eli Lilly (#28), Teva (48), Amgen (147), Pfizer (159) and AstraZeneca (177). Two contract researchers made it, too: Pharmaceutical Product Development (160) and Quintiles (189).
The Merck group's first app, Vree, let Type 2 diabetics record their blood glucose levels, producing a record for their doctors. Then came the iChemoDiary and iManage Migraine apps, for symptom and side effect tracking. The migraine application hit a sweet spot: sufferers are often 18- to 49-year-old women, big users of smartphone.
- here's the article
- see the 500 report