Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1192329
Modernizing Clinical Trials: Digital Technologies and the Cloud 4 Published by FiercePharma range of formats, the data that comes from each tool can be hard to integrate and analyze without preparation work to create a uniform format across each data set. "Mos t d es k to p analy zer s are manuf ac t ure d by dif ferent vendors, and they all produce test result data in different formats," said Savitra Sharma, CEO of a research analy tics firm. "In order to combine that data, the lab tech must manually massage that data and put it into one uniform format. This data then needs to be manually uploaded to a laborator y information management system (LIMS)." AWS and APN Par tners, like TetraScience, facilitate dat a integr ation from diver se dat a sources and standardize data into vendor-agnostic and analytics- ready formats, eliminating the data silos found in traditional research labs. 5 This helps researchers more ef fec tively focus on data analysis, rather than reformat ting data that has been aggregated from a variety of instrumentation. GLOBAL DATA SHARING AND ADVANCED ANALYSIS Collaboration through global data sharing is key to fueling discovery, and both pharma and public research entities are embracing this idea by investing more in collaborative ef for ts. The potential for innovation 5 Amazon Web Ser vices. "Data Integration from Cloud-Enabling Lab Instrument s." YouTube, YouTube, Feb. 6, 2019, w w w. youtube.com/watch?v=F6IstT XFBjI. through par tnership is already well known in the industr y, with figures showing that 30% of the drugs currently in development at large pharmaceutical companies were initially developed by anot her company. 6 However, as the value of data as a form of currency becomes more evident, sharing sensitive research data requires extra caution to ensure that it remains secure and IP is protec ted. Data-sharing methods using flash or hard drives are not scalable to the large data sets now common in research, are impractical for long-distance collaborations, and also introduce data security risks. Cloud-based data storage provides a cost-effective, scalable, and secure modern alternative. And once data is securely moved to the cloud, AWS can facilitate multinational collaborations by enabling the primary organization to create isolated access for researchers from different organizations. AWS is being used to power many large research consortiums, such as CHARGE, 7 in which more than 200 scientists from five global institutions work together to try to identify genes that may be involved in the development of heart disease. With more than 450 TB of data in play in the CHARGE project, "having to ship out hard drives to so many people would be a logistical nightmare," Narayanan Veeraraghavan, lead programmer scientist at Baylor, says. "Data would have to be encr ypted 6 Buvailo, Andrii. "Pharma R&D Out sourcing Is On The Rise." BioPharmaTrend, Aug. 13, 2018. w w w.biopharmatrend.com/ post /30 -pharma-rd- out sourcing-is- on-the -rise/. 7 Baylor Case Study— Amazon Web Ser vices. Available at ht tps://aws.amazon.com/solutions/case -studies/baylor/ The potential for innovation through partnership is already well known in the industry, with figures showing that 30% of the drugs currently in development at large pharmaceutical companies were initially developed by another company. 30%