Pfizer and PointClickcare Partner to Provide Insight on Age-Related Disorders

PointClickCare Technologies, a leading healthcare technology platform enabling meaningful collaboration and access to real time insights, announced November 8th a strategic collaboration with Pfizer Inc. to provide real world insights into the population at high risk of age-related disorders, which is aligned with PointClickCare’s mission to protect and support the senior population.

Old Age Shouldn’t Necessary Mean Low Quality of Life

Older adults are at risk of developing age-related disorders such as loss of appetite, malnutrition, involuntary weight loss, and cachexia, which can lead to adverse health outcomes. Declining general health is natural as one grows older. However, struggling with Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, and other types of memory loss can make someone’s retirement days more difficult. Everyone becomes confused and startled once a loved one or family member starts forgetting their names or cannot recall important memories.

However, memory loss shouldn’t necessarily translate to diminished quality of life for your old adult. While accepting that your loved one should be moved to a memory care community is difficult, senior living centers that provide memory care services, offer quality care and help the affected adults lead a fulfilling lifestyle. Healthcare companies are always trying to find new ways to help treat and support older patients. Back in 2019, an app that connected students to seniors in a bid to improve elder care has secured $3.4 million in seed funding. Mon Ami, set up by Madeline Dangerfield-Cha and Joy Zhang, was started when the MBA students at Stanford University found a mutual interest in senior issues. The digital platform creates connections between college students and isolated seniors or seniors living with dementia.

A Growing Problem Worldwide, and Things Are Not Going to Improve

Because these disorders likely affect many older adults, there is a need to better understand how these disorders manifest, how they progress over time, and how they impact patient health. More comprehensive data is needed to help fill these knowledge gaps.

“Real world evidence is at the root of an ongoing and critical transformation in health care. By analyzing real world data, we can learn more about a patient population. And those insights can help guide our decisions about developing new therapies”, Simon Dagenais, Senior Director, Real World Evidence Center of Excellence at Pfizer said. 

Globally, the population is aging rapidly. Between 2015 and 2050, the proportion of the world’s population over age 60 will nearly double, from 12% to 22%. In the United States, the number of individuals older than age 65 is projected to peak at 95 million in 2060. Many older adults will need to spend time in a long-term care facility as they age, but older adults in long-term care facilities are often unable to participate in clinical trials. This lack of representation can limit the development of therapies aimed at addressing the unmet needs of this important population.

“Our evidence-rich database can provide insights that specifically represent older adults in long-term care facilities —a population that is often overlooked — to support research by expanding drug discovery and development. We’re proud to support companies, like Pfizer, who are doing their part to accelerate research for this demographic and make trials more inclusive, to ultimately improve care outcomes,” Jeff Wessinger, Vice President & General Manager of Life Sciences at PointClickCare said.

Research Would Get Easier With the Data Pointclickcare Can Provide

With coverage approaching 70% of the long-term and post-acute care (LTPAC) market, PointClickCare is uniquely positioned to provide life sciences companies, like Pfizer, with outcomes-based evidence through extensive longitudinal patient records. The continued collaboration between LTPAC and Life Sciences companies is powering this innovation. 

“Access to data on comorbidities, medications, vital signs, body weight, and physical function in older adults residing in long-term care through electronic medical records is very important to help us design clinical trials for this patient population”, Simon Dagenais said.

With access to the real world data PointClickCare can provide, research and development teams can gain a deeper understanding of the long-term and post-acute care demographic, resulting in more data enriched clinical trials and empirical evidence-based studies. 

About PointClickCare Technologies

PointClickCare is a leading healthcare technology platform enabling meaningful collaboration and access to real-time insights at any stage of a patient’s healthcare journey. PointClickCare’s single platform spans the care continuum, fostering proactive, holistic decision-making and improved outcomes for all. Over 27,000 long-term post-acute care providers, and 2,700 hospitals use PointClickCare today, enabling care collaboration and value-based care delivery for millions of lives across North America.

About Pfizer

Pfizer Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was established in 1849 in New York by two German entrepreneurs, Charles Pfizer (1824–1906) and his cousin Charles F. Erhart (1821–1891).

Pfizer develops and produces medicines and vaccines for immunology, oncology, cardiology, endocrinology, and neurology. The company has several blockbuster drugs or products that each generate more than US$1 billion in annual revenues. In 2020, 52% of the company’s revenues came from the United States, an equal 6% quota came from China and Japan, and 36% came from other countries.