Worldwide Clinical Trials and Deep Lens Enter Strategic Alliance

MORRISVILLE, N.C. & COLUMBUS, Ohio  (BUSINESS WIRE)- Worldwide Clinical Trials, Inc. (Worldwide), a full-service, midsize, global CRO, and Deep Lens, an AI-driven digital pathology company focused on disease diagnosis confirmation and clinical trial recruitment, announced a new strategic alliance in oncology. The companies will pair Worldwide’s expertise in clinical cancer research and global clinical trial operations with the Deep Lens VIPER™ digital pathology platform. This combination will support a new ecosystem for sponsors, researchers and care teams to accelerate cancer diagnoses and present clearer treatment and clinical trial options earlier in the process.

Patient recruitment for clinical trials remains a time-intensive, costly barrier to the execution of drug development programs. More than 14,000 oncology clinical trials are actively recruiting patientsi, yet estimates put the rate of participation as low as 3% of potential trial candidates.ⁱⁱ Worldwide and Deep Lens will address this challenge by first collaborating to design a pilot study to marry innovative clinical trial designs and operational acumen with the VIPER platform. The aim is to enhance trial recruitment through real-time diagnosis and alerting and enhance coordination between research teams, care teams and patients.

“Cancer research is advancing at an incredible pace. We need to up our game as pathologists and CROs to deliver increased precision, speed and communication to find patients with particular disease subtypes or biomarkers,” said Dave Billiter, co-founder and CEO, Deep Lens. “With the global reach and scientific and operations expertise of Worldwide, we believe we can streamline clinical trial recruitment. And, just as importantly, oncologists can inform patients and their caregivers about clinical research options from day one.”

Through the strategic alliance, Worldwide and Deep Lens seek to:

• Accelerate oncology patient recruitment for clinical trials

• Advance clinical research as a care option (CRAACO) where the critical conversation with a patient is enabled at the point in their journey that is most impactful

• Create trusted networks of precision diagnosis and clinical research options

• Provide biopharmaceutical clients with a new platform for basket and umbrella study designs that can quickly process diagnosis and tumor response in real time

• Support pre-competitive research into better clinical trial approaches by organizing “data clubs” (disease-specific consortia) of industry stakeholders

“Worldwide and Deep Lens are collaborating to drive critical, lifesaving decisions earlier in the treatment conversation – where days can impact outcomes. For sponsors, this further builds on our commitment to provide uncommon scientific and operational expertise throughout the clinical research process,” said Dave Bowser, executive vice president and general manager, Worldwide Clinical Trials. “For patients, the alliance seeks to bring clarity and confidence to the incredibly challenging moment they are diagnosed with cancer.”

With operations spanning 60 countries, Worldwide offers biopharma sponsors the clinical, technical and regulatory expertise they need to navigate the international and strategic complexities of oncology drug development – including proven ability to access hard-to-find patient populations.

Deep Lens offers a modernized, AI-driven approach to pathology.

Together, the companies will address unique barriers to recruitment. These include:

Deployment of advances in digital pathology, deep learning and workflow for interventional and observational research in oncology;

• Accelerated characterization of complex oncology sub-types and stages in real time; and

• Engaging study teams and care teams in meaningful patient conversations about treatment options.

• By working with Deep Lens on clinical trial recruitment, Worldwide can reach upstream from the oncologist to the pathologist, enabling identification of eligible patients at the time of their diagnosis – much sooner than current methods. Going straight to the source can fast-track trial enrollment and potentially shorten the duration of the trial.

About Worldwide Clinical Trials

Worldwide Clinical Trials employs more than 1,600 professionals around the world, with offices in North and South America, Eastern and Western Europe, Russia, and Asia. Founded by physicians committed to advancing medical science, Worldwide is out to change how the world experiences CROs – in the best possible way. From early phase and bioanalytical sciences through late phase, post-approval and real-world evidence, we provide world-class, full-service drug development services.

With infrastructure and talent spanning 60 countries, we execute predictable, successful studies with operational excellence across a range of therapeutic areas, including central nervous system, cardiovascular, metabolic, immune-mediated inflammatory disorders (IMID), oncology and rare diseases. We never compromise on science or safety. We’re never satisfied with the status quo. We’re the Cure for the Common CRO.

For more information, visit http://www.worldwide.com.

About Deep Lens

Deep Lens has extended one of the world’s first digital pathology cloud platforms, VIPER, to include artificial intelligence, enhanced pathology workflow support and collaboration capabilities. In addition to providing essential workflow support to pathology teams, Deep Lens offers the most precise and timely source for identifying sites and patients for sponsored clinical trials.

For more information, visit https://www.deeplens.ai/.

i https://clinicaltrials.gov, Last accessed February 28, 2019

ii https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK50895/

Contacts

Worldwide Clinical Trials:

Sherri Stuart, Vice President, Global Marketing and Communications

Sherri.Stuart@worldwide.com
 

Deep Lens:

Jessica Yingling, Ph.D., President, Little Dog Communications Inc.

jessica@litldog.com