It’s almost exactly a year since we learned that Apple was making ResearchKit available to big pharmaceutical companies and GlaxoSmithKline would be using the platform to carry out clinical studies. GSK has now announced the first of those studies.

The company says that it sees significant benefits by collecting data via ResearchKit …

The study will use the GSK PARADE iPhone app to conduct surveys and use iPhone sensors to collect and track common symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis: joint pain, fatigue, and mood. It will also track activity and quality of life measures for 300 patients over a three-month period. 

If you’re a rheumatoid arthritis sufferer who would like to participate in the study, you’ll need to be based in the U.S. and aged over 21. You can apply by downloading the app from the App Store. As well as providing data to help GSK understand the disease, you’ll also be able to view your own data in the app.

Our goal is to engage with patients in a new way that integrates the research into their daily lives versus the traditional model that requires patients to travel to their doctors’ offices […]

ResearchKit [enables us to] gather data more frequently and more accurately from participants using an iPhone.

While making the platform available to both non-profit and for-profit organizations, Apple also recently started using ResearchKit to conduct its own research.

Via Engadget