PHT Chooses the Treo 650 for Wireless Clinical Trials

Palm today announced that PHT Corporation, one of its leading clinical trials customers, is using 1,500 Palm Treo 650 smartphones to collect and wirelessly transmit self-reported data from subjects using PHT's customized LogPad application in clinical trials across the globe. The application captures body diagrams, visual measurements and other data accurately and efficiently from subjects and sites around the globe.

Today's announcement puts PHT, which has deployed more than 20,000 Palm handheld devices in the past two years, at the forefront of smartphone use in clinical research. More than 70 biopharmaceutical and medical device companies, including 13 of the top 15 drug-development firms in the world, use PHT's market-leading electronic patient reported outcome (ePRO) solutions in more than 180 clinical studies worldwide.

Palm Treo 650 smartphoneRecently, PHT deployed Treo 650 smartphones for use by asthma patients in the AIR2 clinical trial sponsored by Asthmatx, an innovative medical device manufacturer located in Mountain View, Calif. Asthmatx is the developer of the Alair System(R), which consists of a single-use device and a controller that delivers radiofrequency energy during an outpatient bronchoscopic procedure known as Bronchial Thermoplasty. In this pivotal clinical trial designed to establish the safety and efficacy of the Alair System for the treatment of asthma, a subset of patients will use Treo 650 smartphones to record daily information about their asthma symptoms. Patients using the Treo smartphone will use the device each morning and evening to record their asthma symptoms, medication use and the impact of their asthma on daily life during the clinical trial. The stored data is then automatically transmitted wirelessly to a secure central server. Researchers review the subject data over the web in real time, using PHT's StudyWorks application to track and manage subject enrollment, diary-completion compliance and subject safety information. PHT's LogPad application, implemented on the Treo 650 smartphones, features body diagrams, visual analog scales and other graphical data-collection screens that are intuitive and convenient for subjects to use.

PHT wanted an easy-to-use mobile wireless product that boosts the accuracy and efficiency of collecting and transmitting patient-reported data. The company chose the Treo 650 smartphone running on Palm OS because of its flexibility and the company's positive experience and history of building customized Palm OS applications. PHT primarily uses Cingular Wireless as its wireless service provider in the United States.

"The Treo smartphone is the best wireless device out there. We looked at other devices and found the graphical user interface on the Treo smartphone to be the most intuitive. It offers everything we expect from a Palm device," said Phil Lee, president and chief executive officer for PHT. "And the new memory architecture is a very useful feature, making it easier to preserve subject data even in the event of battery loss."

PHT's rapid growth has been fueled by the increasing adoption of ePRO systems by clinical-trial sponsors. Drug-development companies are finding electronic patient diaries offer tangible benefits, including measurable improvements in data quality through error reduction and decreased data variability. ePRO solutions also help streamline trial-management tasks, providing greater efficiencies for improved cycle time. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has expressed interest in automatically time-stamping patient data and in the high quality of data collected by electronic patient diaries. PHT's LogPad System has been used in more than 180 clinical trials across the globe, more than any other ePRO provider.

"Palm is proud of the strong relationship it has built with PHT over the years and the contributions to medical science that we are able to make by pooling our complementary strengths," said Tara Griffin, vice president, enterprise sales, for Palm. "It's exciting and encouraging to see the clinical trials market take advantage of the secure wireless capabilities of our converged devices so that researchers can capture, review and log high-quality subject data more quickly, reducing the time it takes an approved drug to safely get to market."

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All posts in one

craigf @ 10/25/2005 3:43:03 PM # Q
Top five comments I expect to see about this story here on PIC's boards, regardless of whether or not they're warranted:

1) The end of Palm OS is near and this is proof! / Bah, this won't save Palm...they'll be filing for bankruptcy next month!

2) See, I told you this would happen: [link to random forum post here]

3) Look at what those idiots at Palm have done now.

4) They would have been smarter to use [insert any non-Palm OS device here]

5) I love my Treo / I hated my Treo / I'm jealous of those who have Treos

RE: All posts in one
2xs @ 10/25/2005 5:57:46 PM # Q
*thumbs up*

RE: All posts in one
cervezas @ 10/25/2005 6:01:45 PM # Q
Looks like our work here is done. ;)

David Beers
Pikesoft Mobile Computing
Software Everywhere blog
www.pikesoft.com/blog
How ironic.
ChiA @ 10/26/2005 1:53:57 PM # Q
Did any of you three have anything to say of relevance to the story?
RE: All posts in one
cervezas @ 10/26/2005 2:41:27 PM # Q
Did any of you three have anything to say of relevance to the story?

Ok, ok, I'll go down and comment on your comment, ChiA. We were just jawin'.


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Advantages of Treo over Handhelds in Clinical Trials

ChiA @ 10/26/2005 12:09:58 AM # Q
I can see that using a Treo has several advantages over a handheld in this field:

-a patient can submit data several times a day, wherever they are as cellular coverage is much wider than wi-fi coverage. This means clinical trial co-ordinators can get and analyse data very promptly, thus reducing the cost and length of trial. This in itself reduces the cost and time required in bringing a drug to market. It also means patients don't have to worry about being at home to submit their data; they can even go on holiday and remain in the trial!

- no extra docking cradles, PCs or equipment to set up at the patient's domicile, just hand them a Treo with a charging cable or dock. It's less stuff to support, go missing, get stolen, take up space etc. Contrast with a handheld, which would need at least a modem or wireless access point in order to send data back.

- NVFS means that even if patient forgets to charge Treo, the info that's been gathered is still safe. I suspect the software is also designed to "phone home" if need be several times a day so that trial data is kept safe at HQ.

RE: Advantages of Treo over Handhelds in Clinical Trials
hkklife @ 10/26/2005 3:06:38 PM # Q
Of course, INTENTIONALLY crippling your handhelds--especially the ones that get within shouting distance of the Treo in pricing (TX, LD) and blow the Treo away in features/screen size
--is a PERFECT way to "urge" firms/individuals to the cashcow Treos. Not only do you have the substantial purchase price (actually paid for by the carriers to Palm) of the hardware, you have the montly data & voice charges/surchages. They are all in cahoots anyway.

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant!

So Palm's new strategy is to COMPETE WITH THEMSELVES (and the POS developer community, of course). By cutting the wireless data functions of their latest PDAs off at the knees, they leave most users with no choice but to buy a Treo or go elsewhere. And given the supreme arrogance of Palm, they'd probably rather lose a customer entirely than have that customer buy a TX over a Treo and make it last for years and years (the way some people are still happily using their Palm Vs or IIIs)...



Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX

RE: Advantages of Treo over Handhelds in Clinical Trials
sr4 @ 10/26/2005 3:21:35 PM # Q

Well, Palm is successfully migrating the POS community to Treo's, with 53% of handhelds sold now being Treo's.

http://www.canalys.com/pr/2005/r2005102.htm

Surur

RE: Advantages of Treo over Handhelds in Clinical Trials
cervezas @ 10/26/2005 4:07:49 PM # Q
So Palm's new strategy is to COMPETE WITH THEMSELVES (and the POS developer community, of course). By cutting the wireless data functions of their latest PDAs off at the knees, they leave most users with no choice but to buy a Treo or go elsewhere.

Funny, selling PDAs that rock the box and flawlessly link with other vendors phones is more my definition of "competing with yourself." If as you claim, Palm is throttling back on the connectivity to avoid cannibalizing the Treos are you saying you'd prefer they do the opposite? Go ahead and cannibalize?

Well, actually, I guess your answer is yes, you personally would prefer that. But do you think that would be smart business?

On the other hand, I do kind of wonder if Palm really has to worry that much about cannibalizing the Treos. Are there really that many people who would flip from buying a Treo to buying a TX if only the TX could do BT dial-up networking with another phone? In other words, does catering to the hkklife's in the market really cost Palm that much in Treo sales?


David Beers
Pikesoft Mobile Computing
Software Everywhere blog
www.pikesoft.com/blog

RE: Advantages of Treo over Handhelds in Clinical Trials
cervezas @ 10/26/2005 4:21:42 PM # Q
At any rate, getting back to the subject of the article, ChiA is right: this kind of application is a job for a free-standing WAN (cellular) device that never needs to interact with the user's PC at all but otherwise delivers everything the Palm OS has to offer. It wouldn't matter if the TX had this feature or that connectivity that Palm left out: it still wouldn't be the right device for the job because it requires a connection either to a PC via HotSync (and attendent PC and conduit support issues) or the Internet via a wireless LAN (which is not exactly available everywhere).


David Beers
Pikesoft Mobile Computing
Software Everywhere blog
www.pikesoft.com/blog

RE: Advantages of Treo over Handhelds in Clinical Trials
hkklife @ 10/26/2005 4:22:31 PM # Q
Yes, Palm has shown to be that:

A. Bone-headed
B. Arrogant

in the past.

It's probably 60% Treo greed, 40% Verizon/Sprint pressure. Remember, Palm/Handspring has always been fascinated by GSM for some oddball reason (even though they are based stateside and the domestic market IS by far their strongest market). Yes, yes, yes, I know GSM is basically the de facto worldwide standard.

But my question IF it doesn't hurt Palm that much to let their new handhelds tether to CDMA BT phones then WHY do they not permit it and/or insidiously break their BT stack without telling anyone?

SO let me put it this way:

DOES it cost Palm ANYTHING to cater to the "hkklifes" (ie the users who PREFER two separate devices due to wanting to have the "best" in each category and/or more option) of the market?

How, David, can you rationalize Palm's UTTER ignorance of the existence of CDMA BT phones?

HOW much would it cost Palm to write a handful of BT cellphone drivers? Much less, I'll wager, than they paid that high flyer graphic designer dude to design their new orange logo. How much do they stand to lose when they p!ss long-time customers by the ugly 1-2 sucker punch of no Graffiti 1 settlement and no CDMA BT? Not a ton, even if you could the loss of word of mouth referrals, but a lost sale/lost customer is a still a loss.

Have you ever seen a company cave in as easily as Palm does? First Xerox, then Access, now Verizon. Add all of that to them selling their soul to M$----someone call Heidi Fleiss--Palm's looking to make another quick buck!

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX

RE: Advantages of Treo over Handhelds in Clinical Trials
cervezas @ 10/26/2005 8:37:40 PM # Q
How, David, can you rationalize Palm's UTTER ignorance of the existence of CDMA BT phones?

Don't have a good answer for you there, dude. Except that this is probably a case where you *shouldn't* attribute to ignorance what could easily just be attributed to bean-counting--either Palm's or that of the wireless operators, who probably make more off people moving up to a Treo (and a fat wireless data plan) than Palm does.

FWIW, whenever we start to see devices coming out of Palm's "Third Business" those devices are *not* going to be smartphones. Palm is ignoring you today, but you may well be surprised to find they have long-term designs on the wallets of guys like you.

David Beers
Pikesoft Mobile Computing
Software Everywhere blog
www.pikesoft.com/blog

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