Article originally posted on The Clinical Trial Vanguard by Moe Alsumidaie on February 10, 2025
Article originally posted on The Clinical Trial Vanguard by Moe Alsumidaie on February 10, 2025
In the dynamic world of clinical trials, Yunu is revolutionizing imaging services with cutting-edge technology and strategic partnerships. Jeffrey Sorenson, CEO of Yunu, shares his insights on how their platform is enhancing efficiency, accuracy, and connectivity in clinical trial imaging. This discussion explores Yunu’s collaboration with WCG and IgniteData, highlighting their technology’s unique capabilities and future directions.
Moe: Jeff, how does Yunu’s platform align with WCG’s needs in imaging services for clinical trials?
Our collaboration with WCG is pivotal because it addresses inefficiencies in using multiple-point solutions for imaging services. Traditionally, these systems required manual traceability, which was error-prone and resource-intensive. By integrating our seamless, web-based platform, WCG can streamline operations, enhance organization, and improve responsiveness to sponsor clients. This transformation boosts their operational efficiency and extends imaging services closer to the sites and patients, enabling consistent and efficient trial management across various locations. This is crucial for a central imaging service like WCG.
Moe: How do partnerships with tech providers like IgniteData enhance Yunu’s platform capabilities?
Yunu fills a longstanding void by providing a source data system for imaging that other systems can connect to, which is key for integrating imaging into EHR to EDC solutions like IgniteData. Yunu integration capabilities allow real-time, accurate imaging data connectivity across trials, addressing the challenge of trial imaging data not residing in EHRs like the standard of care imaging results do. Our partnerships enable sponsors to access comprehensive clinical data efficiently, enhancing trial outcomes and operational efficiencies. For example, IgniteData’s ability to notify study staff of changes in clinical trial values is complemented by our platform by adding seamless imaging data flow, eliminating manual data entry into the EDC, and reducing errors. This synergy is vital for sponsors needing all clinical data traceable back to their sources at preferred sites and networks in real-time.
Moe: Can you provide examples or metrics showing improvements in trial efficiency and data accuracy?
At sites using traditional methods, there are typically 8 hours of study staff time for every hour of radiology reading. Our platform reduces this by 80%, allowing for real-time reads and significantly lowering error rates. For instance, accurate data from sites can save sponsors 200 days and $5 million on a phase two trial, highlighting the substantial impact on trial efficiency and accuracy. Additionally, our recent experience onboarding all active trials a handful of NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers revealed that 30% to 50% of trial imaging assessments had non-conformance issues, which we address by ensuring data accuracy at the source, thus avoiding costly delays and errors that may only be caught later during central review.
Moe: How do these partnerships influence Yunu’s roadmap for innovation in imaging technology?
Our roadmap has always been to build a stateful, user-managed research imaging data network, and these partnerships align perfectly with that vision. We haven’t needed to pivot; instead, partners are leveraging the accessibility of our data. This has led to enhancements like customizable eCRFs and QC forms, expanding our capabilities beyond oncology and improving real-time data access for CROs and sponsors. The integrations with partners like IgniteData and WCG allow us to automate trial-wide deployment and enhance real-time data visibility, which are critical for late phase pharma clinical trials.
Moe: What unique aspects of Yunu’s technology were decisive for Ignite Data and WCG in choosing your platform?
WCG needed a comprehensive imaging operating system, which Yunu provides as a cloud-based, end-to-end solution. Our platform’s ability to manage trials efficiently and provide real-time data dashboards is a significant advantage. For IgniteData, our focus is on deployment automation and real-time co-selling capabilities, which are particularly appealing to large pharma clients. By offering a verticalized solution that addresses the complete needs of sites, CROs, and sponsors simultaneously, we have quickly become a leader in the field that is known for supporting the most difficult and diverse clinical trial requirements.
Moe: What trends in clinical trial imaging do you predict will emerge, and how is Yunu preparing to lead?
One major trend is that pharma is beginning to expect transparent access to their source data, including imaging. We also observe a trend towards more early-phase trials with fewer patients and time points, driven by precision medicine. Delivering on these expectations requires agile, accurate imaging solutions, which Yunu provides. Our platform supports these shifts by enabling real-time, precise imaging assessments, with setup taking minutes and not months. As therapies become more targeted, the need for accurate, timely imaging data becomes even more critical, and our platform is designed to meet these demands by providing real-time insights and reducing the time and cost associated with traditional imaging methods.
Moe: Is there anything else you’d like to add that you felt I might have missed?
The key takeaway is the importance of having a source data solution for imaging, which is in high demand. Our platform’s ability to provide real-time, accurate data is essential for modern clinical trials’ fast-paced, precision-driven landscape. Our new partnerships with WCG and IgniteData are a testament to the value we bring to the industry.
This article is sponsored by Yunu.
