AstraZeneca debuted the health-tech company Evinova, which will focus on digital technology and AI in clinical trials, Monday morning.
Evinova will operate as a separate company focused on bringing AstraZeneca’s technology solutions to biotech companies as well as clinical research organizations (CROs) — all in the name of helping them run clinical trials, AstraZeneca noted in a press release.
Cristina Durán will serve as president of Evinova going forward.
Evinova’s digital technology and AI solutions will be based on the British pharma giant’s deep experience of developing novel therapeutics and will utilize insights from thousands of patients and clinical researchers.
“We are excited to bring the portfolio of globally-scaled digital solutions developed to serve AstraZeneca’s drug development pipeline to the wider life sciences community,” Durán said in a statement. “We believe this will help propel the sector forward in digital health as we know healthcare professionals and regulators need digital solutions that work across pharma companies and support patients broadly.”
In particular, Evinova will offer biotechs and CROs digital technology solutions that AstraZeneca has already been using, with the aim of cutting down the time and cost of making new drugs, bringing care closer to home for patients and reducing the burden on health systems.
The company will also offer digital remote patient monitoring, digital therapeutics, novel endpoint solutions and trial design and consulting services.
AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot underscored the growing importance of digitization in pharma operations, noting that the future of medicine development will be accelerated with digital solutions.
“We believe Evinova’s combination of scientific expertise and track record in developing AI-enabled digital technologies at scale, provides a real opportunity to fundamentally improve patient care, drive healthcare transformation and reduce carbon emissions,” Soriot added.
Evinova also announced that initial CROs to invest in agreements with the company include Parexel and Fortrea.
The standalone company noted that it will be collaborating with Accenture and Amazon Web Services to expand the reach of its health-tech products.
Moving forward, Evinova will also focus on “accelerating” the delivery and development of drugs, clinical trial development, and improved patient outcomes, it said.
AstraZeneca’s unveiling of Evinova follows a recent, major move to begin investing in the weight loss drug market. Earlier in November, AstraZeneca bought the rights to Eccogene’s investigational obesity drug ECC5004 for $185 million upfront.
