NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – GNS Healthcare today said that it will collaborate with contract research organization Covance on developing data-driven models to assist pharmaceutical firms in optimizing the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of drug development.
The partners will use GNS' Reverse Engineering Forward Simulation (REFS) analytics platform along with Covance's data assets derived from its clinical trials work to create computer models that predict safety and efficacy of drug candidates across a variety of patient characteristics and across many diseases, with an initial focus on type 2 diabetes.
Terms of the alliance were not disclosed.
GNS said the collaboration will complement its existing work with pharma firms on creating algorithms to match patients with specific drugs and to discover biomarkers from molecular and clinical trial data.
"Our collaboration with Covance combines our unique collective resources and capabilities to tackle what has previously been an intractable challenge-improving dismal clinical drug development success rates," Colin Hill, President, CEO and Co-founder of GNS Healthcare, said in a statement. "The predictive computer models arising from our collaboration will address this problem and will in turn lead to better treatment options for patients."