Quintiles Contributes to Apple’s ResearchKit

Quintiles announced that it has contributed open source code to the Apple ResearchKit, which was launched earlier this year. The code, which was submitted through and available on GitHub, has been approved by Apple for incorporation into ResearchKit.

The overall enhancements provide ResearchKit app developers with extensions that support additional capabilities. Quintiles’ contribution to ResearchKit should enable the apps it produces with the framework to further engage patients participating in clinical research.

Technically, the following code was contributed:

Location Question Type: This pull request adds support for a new location question and answer type. It can be used as a single question step and/or in a form task. You may have multiple entries in the form task and while interacting with each individual form item, the map will hide or show depending on your current selection. The location question handles the permission request for accessing the devices current location, when using the current location button. It will reverse geocode the current location value to an address and fill it in the question answer field.


Validated Text: This pull request adds support for generic validated text answers that can be used in both form item questions and survey question steps. It takes a regex expression, which is optional, that is used for validation along with an error string that will be displayed when the validation fails.


Wait Task: This pull request adds support for a generic wait task that can be used a task or in-between steps allowing you to process or update additional data. It supports both indeterminate and determinate progress views that tint accordingly and a place for status updates.

The work Quintiles is doing with Apple and its contribution to ResearchKit is part of Quintiles’ commitment to technology leadership within the biopharma services industry.

Read the full release, with links to accompanying videos.