New York, NY – March 20, 2024 – Koneksa, a healthcare technology company pioneering evidence-based digital biomarkers, announced that Merck, known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, has joined its Data Syndication Partnership program for the LEARNS observational study, which seeks to develop digital biomarkers in neurodegenerative disorders from smart phone-based assessments and wearable technologies. As a member, Merck researchers will have real-time access to data and results from the ongoing study.
“The healthcare community urgently needs better well-validated measures of Parkinson’s disease progression to inform drug development,” said Chris Benko, CEO, Koneksa. “We are establishing Data Syndication partnerships as a new form of pre-competitive collaboration that brings together a community around real-time data sharing and analysis throughout our studies to accelerate the validation and adoption of better digital measures.”
“Digital technologies provide an opportunity to quantitatively and objectively assess disease progression and treatment effect in people with Parkinson’s disease,” said Dr. Aubrey Stoch, Head of Translational Medicine, Merck Research Laboratories. “As a founding member of Koneksa’s data syndication community, we are excited to collaborate to further the development of digital measures and advance understanding of this debilitating disease.”
The LEARNS study plans to study disease progression for 12 months in up to 70 people with Parkinson’s disease. The capture of remote measurements from the Koneksa Neuroscience Toolkit, which implements iPhone-based active assessments and passive monitoring using a wrist-worn wearable, provides an opportunity to capture more objective and frequent measures of disease change and impact in the context of daily living and in a more convenient fashion. Koneksa announced in February that the first patient was enrolled in the LEARNS study.
The high-precision longitudinal data and in-clinic data from the LEARNS study will guide future development of digital biomarkers of disease progression in Parkinson’s disease. Data syndication gives partners immediate and continuous access to data and results as the study progresses, and access to the study dashboard from Koneka’s proprietary platform for real-time study monitoring, enabling syndication partners to learn from the study as it progresses.
For more information about Data Syndication, contact Koneksa at datasyndication@koneksahealth.com. More information on the LEARNS study is available at clinicaltrials.gov (NCT06219629).
About Koneksa
Koneksa is a healthcare technology company pioneering evidence-based digital biomarkers to accelerate clinical research and guide decision-making in drug development and market strategy. Our evidence-based biomarker solutions enable efficient clinical trial designs to help innovative therapies reach patients faster. Koneksa aims to revolutionize treatment effect detection in clinical research and improve patient outcomes. Learn more at koneksahealth.com.
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