New app from GlaxoSmithKline to track patients in real-time arthritis study

GlaxoSmithKline, the pharmaceuticals company, has become the first to use Apple’s medical research app to study how disease affects patients in real time.

The mobile-based app will monitor at least 300 people in the US over a three-month period to gather data on how rheumatoid arthritis affects their day-to-day lives and, more specifically, their mobility. The British pharmaceuticals giant says the information taken from the app over the course of the study will help improve medicine development.

The company says that while it developed the app in-house, it used Apple’s ResearchKit as a software framework for the technology. ResearchKit was created specifically for medical research and Glaxo is the first in the industry to use it in a study of this kind.

The programme, dubbed ‘Patient Rheumatoid Arthritis Data from the Real World’ (Parade), worked when patients taking part download the app onto their iPhones. The app then uses the iPhone’s sensors to collect and track common symptoms of arthritis, such as joint pain, stiffness, fatigue and mood. It also tracks activity levels and asks users to fill in surveys, carry out tasks and input both physical and emotional symptoms.

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