SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PicnicHealth, a patient-centered health technology company, announced its intent to globally expand its partnership with Roche and Genentech to accelerate neurological disease research through investments in real-world data. The partnership, which launched in 2018 with a custom cohort of 5,000 multiple sclerosis patients, FlyWheelMS, has grown to include investments in Huntington’s Disease, Alzheimer’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease related dementias (AD/ADRD), and myasthenia gravis (MG) cohorts. Roche continues to leverage PicnicHealth datasets as part of its pan-neuroscience patient research study, ‘BrainPower’ (Brain Patient Outcomes With Experience Research), to highlight shared challenges and unmet needs faced by patients with neurological diseases, and ultimately improve patient outcomes and care.
PicnicHealth's newest real-world datasets in AD/ADRD and MG, which include patient- and observer-reported outcomes and electronic health record data, will form some of the most complete datasets to date following the retrospective and prospective journeys of patients with AD/ADRD and MG. While the MG cohort enrollment is closed, the AD/RD cohort is currently open for enrollment for patients in the United States.
“We're delighted to continue our long-term partnership with Roche and Genentech as we leverage our expertise in working with patients to develop data while enabling researchers to better understand disease progression and staging and the holistic impact a neurological disease has on a patient and his of her care team,” said Dan Drozd, MD, Chief Medical Officer at PicnicHealth.
“To drive real, tangible change for people with neurological disorders, we see the value of collaborating with experts across industries, and our expanded partnership with PicnicHealth is a key example of this commitment in action. Through our analysis of anonymized, longitudinal patient data, we hope to garner new insights around shared challenges in the patient journey that cut across multiple neurologic diseases. We look forward to this collaboration continuing to yield valuable research to advance our understanding of the impact of brain health across a variety of neurologic conditions. These insights will help us to develop a more personalized healthcare approach for specific disorders as well as across neurology science broadly,” said Gregory A. Rippon, MD, MS, FAAN, Vice President and Chief Medical Partner of Ophthalmology, Neurology, and Internal Medicine at Genentech, a member of the Roche group.
PicnicHealth is dedicated to helping address healthcare disparities by building diverse cohorts, inclusive of the broad range of racial and ethnic minorities affected by neurologic diseases. PicnicHealth’s approach to real-world evidence generation will not only capture data from these populations, which are more historically underrepresented in clinical trials, but can also shine a light on the varied clinical and social experiences of these populations.
For more information on the Alzheimer’s Disease research cohort, visit https://picnichealth.com/program/alzheimers.
For more information on the Myasthenia gravis research cohort, visit https://picnichealth.com/program/mg.
About PicnicHealth
PicnicHealth is a healthcare technology company that partners directly with patients to build deep real-world datasets. The company leverages state-of-the-art machine learning, combined with human curation, to port complete medical records into an easy-to-use online application. The platform gives patients unprecedented access to and control over their medical records and, with their consent, the opportunity to contribute this valuable data to further scientific research. Founded in 2014 by Noga Leviner and Troy Astorino, the company partners with dozens of the world’s largest biopharma companies and academic research institutions. Learn more at PicnicHealth.com and picnichealth.com/research-platform.
About Genentech in Neuroscience
Neuroscience is a major focus of research and development at Genentech. Our goal is to pursue groundbreaking science to develop new treatments that help improve the lives of people with chronic and potentially devastating diseases.
Genentech and Roche are investigating more than a dozen medicines for neurological disorders, including MS, SMA, NMOSD, Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, Parkinson’s, Acute ischemic stroke, Duchenne muscular dystrophy and Angelman syndrome. Together with our partners, we are committed to pushing the boundaries of scientific understanding to solve some of the most difficult challenges in neuroscience today.
About Genentech
Founded more than 40 years ago, Genentech is a leading biotechnology company that discovers, develops, manufactures and commercializes medicines to treat patients with serious and life-threatening medical conditions. The company, a member of the Roche Group, has headquarters in South San Francisco, California. For additional information about the company, please visit http://www.gene.com.
