Over-65s across the UK are set to benefit from potentially life-changing new treatment options for conditions like cancer and cardiovascular disease, thanks to an innovative new clinical trials initiative from healthtech company Cera.
Cera, which uses preventative technology and AI to keep people out of hospital, is now embarking on a technology-powered programme which will make it safer and easier for over-65s to take part in clinical trials for conditions like cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and stroke.
Over-65s account for two-thirds of illness in the UK, and are behind the majority of the nation’s medication needs, yet they are under-represented in clinical trials – only making up about one-third of participants[1].
Cera’s programme aims to improve healthcare research for our ageing population, ensuring medications are more tailored to the people that need them. It will also use technology to remove common barriers to participation in clinical trials for over-65s, such as the need to travel to healthcare centres, or lack of awareness about the options available.
Dr Ben Maruthappu, Founder and CEO of Cera, said: “Over-65s often miss out on taking part in clinical trials, despite needing treatment more than almost any other group. For instance, less than a third of participants in cutting-edge new cancer trials are over 65, yet this group sadly makes up three-quarters of all cancer-related deaths.
“Our programme will use technology to make it easier and safer for this age group to benefit from potentially life-changing new treatments – whilst also improving healthcare research for this growing demographic and boosting our life sciences sector.”
Cera’s programme is made possible by its pioneering use of technology and its world-leading home healthcare dataset, which is rich with insight into how the population is ageing. Cera’s dataset is powered by an AI-backed app which is used by almost 10,000 carers and nurses across the UK to log patient symptoms and information at each of 2 million home healthcare visits they deliver each month.
Now by far Europe’s largest home healthcare dataset, this stands at more than 200 billion data points, and is growing by 1 billion data points a week. Cera’s proprietary algorithms will scan this data to identify patients who would benefit from access to clinical trials, whilst also flagging up co-morbidities and other relevant health information, and filtering out any higher-risk patients.
Patient consent, privacy and data security will be front and centre of Cera’s programme. Patients would have to actively apply to take part in any trial, with the help of family if needed, and will be additionally screened by experts before enrolment.
Over-65s are a rapidly growing demographic, set to account for more than a quarter of England’s population within the next 20 years.[2]
[1] Cambridge Cognition (2020), Guidance for including elderly patients in clinical trials: https://cambridgecognition.com/guidance-for-including-elderly-patients-in-clinical-trials/
[2] Age UK Briefing: The state of health and care of older people in England (2023): https://www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/reports-and-publications/reports-and-briefings/health–wellbeing/age_uk_briefing_state_of_health_and_care_of_older_people_july2023.pdf
