RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Quintiles, the world’s largest biopharmaceutical services company, is working with the National Football League (NFL) to track player injuries and understand trends in injury occurrence.
Quintiles and the NFL have been working together since 2011, when the Quintiles epidemiology group was tasked with designing a new application that would modernize the league’s existing Injury Surveillance System (ISS). The NFL recently signed a five-year agreement with Quintiles to continue and expand upon its Injury Surveillance and Analytics (ISA) service as it is now known.
Quintiles records injury occurrence during pre-season training, and continues throughout the regular season and playoffs. For the 2014-15 season, Quintiles began conducting injury surveillance using the NFL’s newly implemented league-wide electronic medical record (EMR) system, enhancing the ability to understand the setting and impact of injuries. The ISA surveillance data are maintained in a manner which protects player identities, consistent with how Quintiles safeguards all confidential patient information.
Quintiles has adapted its expertise in epidemiological methods to provide insights about a variety of risk factors for sports injuries including issues relating to rules, equipment and types of surface. The analytics are conducted in response to questions posed by the NFL, its teams, health and safety committees, physicians, athletic trainers, players and the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) and is shared with those groups in a series of reports and face-to-face meetings over the football season.
“This partnership presents a unique opportunity for Quintiles to leverage our epidemiological and real-world research expertise,” said Nancy Dreyer, senior vice president and global head of scientific affairs at Quintiles. “Through our innovative and rapid analytic approach, Quintiles connects insights with superior delivery for better outcomes, providing objective analysis in a timely manner.”
“Conducting analytics using EMRs and other game-related information substantially broadens our understanding of player health and safety,” said Christina Mack, Quintiles associate director of epidemiology. “Applying epidemiologic methods to these data provides a more complete picture of changes in injury occurrence over time.”
The NFL Injury Surveillance and Analytic service originates with Quintiles’ Real-World & Late Phase Research business unit. As part of its observational research and patient registry services, this group provides programs for characterizing diseases, evaluating safety and effectiveness of medical interventions, understanding and improving patient outcomes, and implementing risk management programs, in addition to sports injury research. The research conducted by Real-World & Late Phase adds important real-world evidence to knowledge about risk factors for disease occurrence as well as the real-world risks and benefits of medical interventions.
About Quintiles
Quintiles (NYSE: Q), a Fortune 500 company, is the world’s largest provider of biopharmaceutical development and commercial outsourcing services. With a network of more than 32,000 employees conducting business in approximately 100 countries, we helped develop or commercialize all of 2013’s top-100 best-selling drugs on the market. Quintiles applies the breadth and depth of our service offerings along with extensive therapeutic, scientific and analytics expertise to help our customers navigate an increasingly complex healthcare environment as they seek to improve efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of better healthcare outcomes. To learn more about Quintiles, please visit www.quintiles.com.
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