Cambridge Cognition gains client with improved electronic assessment platform

Brain health solutions developer Cambridge Cognition Holdings announced the launch of an improved electronic clinical outcomes assessment (‘eCOA’) platform on Monday, claiming it had already attracted a new client from one of the world's top 10 pharmaceutical companies.

The AIM-traded firm explained that clinicians and patients complete clinical outcome assessments (COAs), such as questionnaires and scales, during clinical trials in order to monitor the effects of treatment.

It said that, with the ubiquity of electronic devices, those necessary assessments were increasingly being delivered on smartphones, tablets and desktops - so much so that the eCOA market was estimated to reach $2bn (£1.55bn) by 2025.

Cambridge Cognition said that, after investing proceeds from the fundraise earlier in the year, it had expanded its eCOA offering to include complex forms, alerting, interview recording and playback.

Following the launch of the enhanced functionality, it announced a new clinical trial contract worth more than $0.23m.

The company said its eCOA solution could be “rapidly configured” for each new clinical trial, which meant that deployment of new clinical outcome instruments would take a matter of days, rather than weeks or months, once the licences were secured.

It said the new contract had tight study deadlines, with multiple outcome assessments for more than 100 patients across five time-points.

In using the company's automated assessment system, the administrative burden for sites was said to be reduced, while consistency in data collection and quality was still ensured.

Crucially, Cambridge Cognition said having a single platform to deliver both electronic questionnaires and scales, alongside its ‘CANTAB’ cognitive assessments, provided a “seamless user experience” for the patient.

“Increasingly, pharmaceutical and biotech companies are recognising the operational benefits of delivering questionnaires and scales electronically in their clinical trials,” said chief executive officer Matthew Stork.

“Our new eCOA offering enables us to capitalise on this shift and to provide an extremely fast turn-around from contract agreement to study deployment.

“We are pleased to see that the investment in development made this year has already helped us to build a new relationship with another prestigious partner.”

At 0801 GMT, shares in Cambridge Cognition were up 6.46% at 28.74p.