RTI International and Navidence Partner to Solve a Persistent Gap in Real-World Evidence: Standardizing How Diseases, Treatments and Outcomes Are Defined

Strategic investment brings together RTI's scientific leadership and Navidence AI-native platform to improve research quality, reproducibility, and patient outcomes across the life sciences

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., May 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Independent scientific research institute RTI International today announced a partnership and strategic equity investment in Navidence, a technology and knowledge content company focused on defining health data and enabling more efficient, transparent and scientifically rigorous clinical research and real-world evidence (RWE) generation. The investment and collaboration reflect RTI's continued commitment to leveraging data, technology and partnerships to advance high-quality evidence that supports better decision-making across the life sciences and healthcare ecosystem.

As part of the investment, RTI will engage with Navidence through a planned strategic collaboration focused on product evolution and commercialization. The collaboration will combine RTI's scientific leadership and real-world research expertise with Navidence's data science and medical informatics capabilities to help standardize disease definitions across the industry, strengthen research insights across programs and support more effective therapeutic interventions for patients.

"One of the most persistent challenges in real-world evidence generation is the inconsistency and lack of standardization in how diseases, treatments and outcomes are defined," said Aaron Kamauu, Navidence CEO. "Navidence was built to solve exactly that. RTI's investment validates our approach and accelerates our ability to bring transparent CODefs to research teams across the life sciences, ultimately improving the quality and credibility of evidence for all stakeholders. Together, we're building something the industry has needed for a long time and we're just getting started."

Founded in 2022 by experienced real-world evidence, medical informatics and data science leaders, Navidence offers AI-native technology and professional services centered on Computable Operational Definitions (CODefs), which are standardized, human- and computer-readable definitions of key study elements, including diseases, treatments, outcomes, and inclusion and exclusion criteria. Defining these elements is a critical but resource-intensive step in clinical research, often requiring weeks or months of manual effort across epidemiology, informatics, statistics, and clinical teams – a burden that AI alone cannot resolve without an expert-curated and pragmatically validated foundation to draw from. The Navidence platform and curated CODef libraries help researchers more precisely define study criteria and move more efficiently from protocol development to real-world data (RWD) evaluation and evidence generation, improving speed, reproducibility, consistency, and trust in study results.

"High-quality real-world evidence demands scientific rigor, scalable infrastructure and a clear understanding of our clients' needs," said Asli Aras, vice president and head of corporate development at RTI. "Navidence tackles a long-standing challenge in life sciences research by bringing clarity and standardization to how health data are defined and operationalized. This investment and collaboration build on RTI's continued commitment to AI-enabled technologies that help clients generate precise, scientifically sound evidence more efficiently to inform healthcare and life-sciences decision making."

Billions of dollars in life sciences research are built on inconsistently defined data. RTI and Navidence are partnering to change that using AI to accelerate evidence that moves patients toward better care. By combining RTI's scientific leadership with Navidence's AI-native platform, we're standardizing how diseases, treatments, and outcomes are defined—giving researchers, regulators, and clinicians the clarity they need to make decisions that advance life changing medicines. Together with investments in Nested Knowledge, b.well Connected Health, and BEK Health, today's announcement reflects RTI's commitment to advancing the technologies that will define the next era of evidence generation.

About RTI International
RTI International is an independent scientific research institute dedicated to improving the human condition. Our vision is to address the world's most critical problems with technical and science-based solutions in pursuit of a better future. Clients rely on us to answer questions that demand an objective and multidisciplinary approach—one that integrates expertise across social, statistical, data, and laboratory sciences, engineering, and other technical disciplines to solve the world's most challenging problems. For more information, visit www.rti.org. 

About Navidence
Navidence is a technology company focused on defining health data and supporting researchers in study design through the use of Computable Operational Definitions (CODefs). Its AI-native platform helps life sciences organizations design, deploy, and scale real-world evidence studies with greater efficiency, consistency, and trust.

Media Contact:
RTI International Media Relations
919-541-7300
[email protected] 

SOURCE RTI International