White Paper: What can the cloud do to improve clinical trials?

Can drug development and clinical trials to bring those drugs to market be done faster with the right technology?   The National Cancer Institute and Bristol-Myers Squibb recently partnered to see how using cloud technology along with digital signatures and digital identities could do this.

According to the white paper Research collaboration in the cloud: How NCI and Research Partners are using Interoperable Digital Identities, Digital Signatures and Cloud Computing to Accelerate Drug Development:

The researchers were provisioned with interoperable digital identity credentials, a form of software installed on a computer, cell phone or other device, which establishes a close link with the user’s  proven identity and allows for the application of digital signatures to electronic documents. Unlike their  simple electronic counterparts, digital signatures cryptographically guarantee the integrity of documents to which they are affixed. In the pilot study, the electronic documents were placed in the cloud, where the researchers were able to access and sign them immediately. Prior to the study, the signature process was delayed by use of courier service, fax, travel, etc. 

So what did this case study find out about using the cloud and other digital services to track the progress of the clinical trial? There was immense amounts of cost savings because there was no need to overnight documents to where they needed to be, time was saved due to the immediate ability to process documents, document loss was eliminated due to the fact that everything was digital, and the the carbon footprint created by the study was minimized.

Read the full paper here.

This March at the Cloud Computing for Life Sciences event, the NCI and Bristol Meyers Squibb will be on hand to present "Innovative research Collaboration in the Cloud" to present a more in-depth look at this case study.  They will expand on understand what interoperable digital identities are, and why they were central to the success of this study.  For more information on this session and the rest of the event, download the agenda.  If you'd like to join us, register today and mention code XP1808BLOG to save 15% off the standard rate.

Do you think that the cloud could have a significant impact on clinical trials?  How and why?

This blog is co-posted with the Clinical Trial Partnerships blog.

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