AstraZeneca’s New Healthcare Business ‘Evinova’ Set to Bring AI into Clinical Trials

AstraZeneca, a global science-led biopharmaceutical  company, has launched a new venture named Evinova. AstraZeneca focuses primarily on the discovery, development, and commercialization of prescription medicines in oncology , rare diseases , and biopharmaceuticals, including cardiovascular, renal, metabolism, respiratory, and immunology. Evinova is a health-tech venture focusing on speeding up the delivery of better health outcomes by fuelling the life sciences sector in digital health . Evinova is set to provide optimized clinical trial design and delivery with the help of digital technology solutions that are already being used globally by AstraZeneca in global clinical trials with other pharmaceutical companies, biotech firms, and clinical research organizations.

The main concern of Evinova is to cut down on the time consumption and cost of developing new medicines, make healthcare accessible for patients, and reduce the burden on healthcare systems. A major part of the time is consumed by the clinical trials in a drug development process rather than molecule designing, which is why solutions like Evinova are expected to help the market in the future. According to a study, the average length of time it takes to get approval from the start of clinical testing is approximately 7.1 years. It is also known that nearly 80% of clinical trials fail to meet timelines and only 3-5% of eligible cancer patients join a clinical trial.

AstraZeneca is determined to support Evinova in the long run. It is also focused on collaborating strategically with multiple leading CROs globally, including Parexel and Fortrea. Evinova offers high-quality digital products and services that are recognized globally in the life sciences and healthcare sector. Evinova is also seeking opportunities in digital remote patient monitoring and digital therapeutics with a pipeline of digital innovations dedicated to these fields.

Pascal Soriot, chief executive officer of AstraZeneca, stated “The future of medicine development can be accelerated with digital solutions. We believe Evinova’s combination of scientific expertise and track record in developing AI-enabled digital technologies at scale, provides a real opportunity to improve patient care, drive healthcare transformation, and reduce carbon emissions.”

Cristina Duran, president of Evinova, said “We are excited to bring the portfolio of globally scaled digital solutions developed to serve AstraZeneca’s drug development pipeline to the wider life sciences community. We believe this will help propel the sector forward in digital health, as we know healthcare professionals and regulators need digital solutions that work across pharma and support patients broadly. Coming from within the sector and with proven experience, Evinova will be uniquely placed to deliver science-based, evidence-led, and human experience-driven solutions with the aim of improving patient experience and outcomes.”

As a result of the collaboration with the global CROs, Paraxel and Fortrea have come to an agreement of providing Evinova’s digital health solutions to their wider consumer base. Additionally, to expand the reach of Evinova, companies like Accenture and Amazon Web Services have also agreed to collaborate with Evinova.

Evinova has also developed a suite of digital solutions called the Evinova drug development suite that includes Evinova unified trial solution, Evinova study design, and planning with the use of artificial intelligence, and Evinova portfolio management for tracking and managing clinical programs.

Evinova unified trial solution, which is widely available for patients, is validated globally by the GxP. It is basically an abbreviation for "good practice" referring to a set of laws, regulations, and guidance. It also helps clinical trial site staff and clinical trial sponsor staff to improve the delivery of clinical trials. It enables the delivery of traditional, hybrid, and decentralized clinical trials while enhancing the patient experience. This solution enables the collection of primary and secondary endpoint data, including novel digitally enabled endpoints and connected medical devices and sensors at both the trial site and patient’s home. It also supports services for virtual visits, including direct-to-patient delivery of medicines, telehealth, remote patient monitoring, and human biological sample tracking. This solution can be accessed through a user-friendly patient application, which is available in more than 40 countries and 80 languages. Additionally, it is also accessible through a website which requires a single sign-in procedure.

Evinova study design and planning uses artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to boost the clinical development and operations teams to design the optimal study while considering critical design variables. Teams can design their study, get automatic costings, and assess operational feasibility based on actual data from that indication at a country and site level. The module also contains models to estimate the study’s carbon footprint and impact on patient experience.

Evinova portfolio management supports clinical program and trial management, reporting, and governance through transparent real-time insights and predictive analytics. It provides complete information on the portfolio across all phases and enables tracking of clinical programs and trials at global, regional, country, and site levels. Predictive  algorithms are used to provide future major milestones that enable the comprehension of deviations from plans and support appropriate intervention by the study leaders.

Evinova will integrate its experience gained at AstraZeneca in clinical and regulatory experience with its expertise in digital technology spanning strategy and development, digital product development, data science and AI, user experience design, and behavioural science. Additionally, Evinova will provide customized scientific solutions, including remote patient monitoring and novel endpoint solutions along with trial design and consulting  services.