When we think about voice assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, we don’t imagine them being used for clinical studies. Well, we may be wrong with Orbita and ERT teaming-up to do just that.
More precisely, the two companies are looking to research new approaches to data procurement and management for pharmaceutical and device customers seeking to streamline clinical trials. The collaboration combines the capabilities of ERT’s EXPERT technology platform for clinical trial data collection, processing and analysis with the Orbita Voice solution for creating conversational applications using intelligent voice agents such as Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.
“We’re excited to work with Orbita on this solution and to give patients the power of voice — an important, emerging technology — to complete surveys, verify completion of care pathway tasks and report health concerns, all of which enables pharmaceutical researchers to move ahead in their clinical development programs quickly, and with confidence,” Andrea Valente, executive vice president and chief development officer at ERT, said in a statement.
Orbita Voice is the first healthcare-centric solution designed to easily create and manage conversational skills for voice-powered assistants; it enables clinical trial investigators and coordinators to create voice surveys and collect voice responses, as well as use built-in analytics to track user engagement and respond to user input.
When combined with ERT’s technology, it will let clinical trial study coordinators create and manage care plans by setting care goals, tasks, and rules over a specified timeline — including completion of daily pain assessment surveys, wellness tasks and/or vitals measurements. On the other hand, patients and family members will be able to review and manage care tasks via voice as well as from their phones and on the web.
“ERT’s leadership in the clinical trials industry and their creativity in blending Orbita Voice with the advanced capabilities of their own EXPERT technology platform make them an ideal partner to deliver transformative solutions to this market,” Nathan Treloar, Orbita president, said in a statement.
At the end of 2016, 45% of U.S. smartphone owners reported using a voice-enabled personal assistant through an app or dedicated device and that figure rises to 63% of millennial smartphone owners.