According to NBC Right Now, the liver disease advocacy organization called The American Liver Foundation is launching an online platform designed to pair liver disease patients to clinical trials. The website, collaborated with Antidote, a successful digital health platform, looks to use their widget technology to successfully match and search clinical trials with hopes to bring about more knowledge, treatments, and even a cure for patients with liver disease.
There are over a hundred different types of liver disease that affects 30 million Americans, which equates to one in every ten people. As the rate of people with diabetes and obesity increases in America, so does the number of people suffering with liver disease. Some types of liver disease include chronic hepatitis, liver cancer, primary sclerosing cholangitis, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, Wilson’s disease and more. Not all forms of liver disease are associated with obesity and diabetes, but the project plans to cover the entire spectrum of liver disease, including many of the rarest types. Some patients will need liver transplants to survive.
The Chief Executive Officer of the American Liver Foundation, Thomas F. Nealon III, expressed his concern for rising numbers of liver disease. Yet, with that rise, pharmaceutical companies are standing up and conducting more clinical trials in hopes to find more effective treatment solutions faster.
Thanks to research volunteers, strides towards treatments and cures are being made. Many are hopeful that the new collaboration between Antidote and The American Liver Foundation (ALF) will help reach new breakthroughs for the rare liver disease community. The Head of Partnerships at Antidote, Grace McElroy, is optimistic and supports the efforts made to make this change.
With constant delays and closures of medical clinical trials all over the world, Antidote’s mission is to bridge that gap between people and medical research. While Antidote focuses on many different types of diseases, ALF focuses on liver disease specifically and is the biggest advocacy group in the nation. Both companies have found great individual success and are hoping together they can provide much more.
