Researchers at St George's, University of London will help build a £1.2m data system which will develop ways to quickly identify patients best suited to clinical trials.
The Semantic Data Platform for Healthcare Project (SEMCARE), will help build a data system that will improve how vital data from pioneering clinical trials is used, allowing patients quicker access to new drugs and treatments. The project will determine which volunteers are best suited to a given trial by using clinical criteria such as: age, gender, diagnosis, symptoms and lab results.
Currently, almost 80 per cent of clinical trials fail to meet their patient enrolment quotas on time, causing delays in introducing new drugs. The SEMCARE project, funded by the European Commission, will bring together the expertise of several research institutions and build a pan-European supported platform that hospitals all over Europe can use for patient identification in clinical trials and for diagnosis support, especially in the case of rare diseases.