The Michael J. Fox Foundation Launches Clinician Input Study in Parkinson's Disease to Evaluate Mobile Technology in Clinical Care

NEW YORK, June 12, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research (MJFF) today launched the Clinician Input Study in Parkinson's Disease (CIS-PD), a new initiative to gather and assess data through the Fox Wearable Companion mobile application to inform Parkinson's disease (PD) treatment and care.

The Fox Wearable Companion application, developed by Intel, will collect movement data and patient-reported information every day for six months from people with Parkinson's. As part of the CIS-PD study, participating clinicians will compare data from the application with their own in-person assessments during patients' visits.  

"Mobile technology has the potential to provide unprecedented insights into the lived experience of Parkinson's disease," says Sohini Chowdhury, deputy CEO at MJFF. "CIS-PD aims to speed development of tools to easily and objectively track Parkinson's, and mobile data can give a deeper understanding of therapeutic impact in both clinical and research settings."

Advancing the Use of Technology in Patient Care
CIS-PD is led by clinicians from four clinical trial centers: Northwestern University, IL; The University of Rochester, NY; The University of Alabama at Birmingham; and The University of Cincinnati, OH.

Participating clinicians will enroll a total of 50 people with Parkinson's who have iPhones, and pair an Apple watch to their devices. For six months, the Fox Wearable Companion application will collect movement data from the watch and direct patients to manually enter information on their symptoms and experience with the disease outside of the clinic.

A dashboard tool will chart each individual's medication adherence, symptom severity, daily activity level and nighttime movement. During study visits, clinicians will compare their observations to the data collected in the application and patients' reported experiences. In doing so, clinicians can assess the accuracy and utility of mobile data in clinical practice.

"People with Parkinson's see their clinicians for a snapshot of time, on a few occasions each year," says Tanya Simuni, MD, director of the Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Program at Northwestern University and CIS-PD lead investigator. "The Clinician Input Study can help substantiate the supplemental use of digital platforms to provide critical disease insights, individualize care and improve treatment plans."

Technology Empowers Patients and Drives Research
Over the course of the study, the Intel team will work with participating clinicians to make iterative improvements to the dashboard tool, ensuring the most useful information is captured.

"Technology makes it easier to collect valuable information from people as they live their daily lives," says Chen Admati, advanced analytics manager at Intel. "Data collected through the Fox Wearable Companion application holds the power to improve patient care, and help create and refine analytical tools to speed scientific discovery."

As part of MJFF's commitment to advancing field-wide developments, all CIS-PD data will be de-identified and made available to qualified Parkinson's researchers at the conclusion of the study.

About The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research
As the world's largest nonprofit funder of Parkinson's research, The Michael J. Fox Foundation is dedicated to accelerating a cure for Parkinson's disease and improved therapies for those living with the condition today. The Foundation pursues its goals through an aggressively funded, highly targeted research program coupled with active global engagement of scientists, Parkinson's patients, business leaders, clinical trial participants, donors and volunteers. In addition to funding more than $700 million in research to date, the Foundation has fundamentally altered the trajectory of progress toward a cure. Operating at the hub of worldwide Parkinson's research, the Foundation forges groundbreaking collaborations with industry leaders, academic scientists and government research funders; increases the flow of participants into Parkinson's disease clinical trials with its online tool, Fox Trial Finder; promotes Parkinson's awareness through high-profile advocacy, events and outreach; and coordinates the grassroots involvement of thousands of Team Fox members around the world.

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SOURCE The Michael J. Fox Foundation

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