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news

Industry standards group Align Biopharma expands to 23 members

Align Biopharma, an industry technology standards group, introduced 14 leading biopharma companies and technology and service providers as new members.

align biopharma

Align Biopharma, a life sciences industry technology standards group, introduced 14 leading biopharma companies and technology and service providers as new members.

In the six months since it was formed, Align Biopharma has become a fast-growing influence in the industry to create and implement open technology standards. The group now includes a total of 23 members dedicated to making it easier for healthcare professionals (HCPs) to connect digitally with life sciences companies.

“Technology standards will solve a significant business problem across the industry by helping get information to stakeholders when and where they need it,” said Ed Kloskowski, VP, head of commercial IT at Shire, one of Align Biopharma’s newest members.

“At Shire, we are focused on meeting the needs of underserved patient communities. Joining forces in Align Biopharma to work together to harmonise digital engagement in a way that will ultimately help patients is one more path to serving our patient community.”

Technology providers+

In addition to life sciences companies as members, Align Biopharma now includes technology providers, Adobe, Exostar, Gigya, Janrain, and Okta, and service providers Accenture, Cognizant, Deloitte, and Mavens. These leading companies are helping to define and review Align Biopharma’s open technology standards to ensure broad industry adoption.

“Align Biopharma has seen an overwhelming response from across the industry,” said Henry Levy, president of Align Biopharma. “It’s clear there is a significant opportunity to improve the digital experience for healthcare professionals. We’re attracting the best experts that are shaping the standards to simplify how HCPs get the important treatment information they need.”

Identity management

Align Biopharma’s first standard is for identity management. Expected available in summer 2017, the standard defines the technical requirements for solutions that provide a single sign-on service for HCPs.

Align Biopharma has also begun development of its second standard for consent and preference management, which will enable consistency in how healthcare professionals specify communication preferences with each life sciences company. Align Biopharma expects to post its consent and preference management standard for public review and input later this year.

What new align biopharma members are saying:

“Accenture is pleased to be a member of Align Biopharma in the quest to create technology standards that benefit the entire healthcare community and accelerate treatments to patients who need them,” said Kevin Julian, senior managing director, Accenture Life Sciences North America.

“Adobe is pleased to join Align Biopharma,” said Thomas Swanson, head of industry strategy & marketing, healthcare at Adobe. “Open technology standards development provides the industry standardisation it can rely upon, enabling digital technology to help transform the healthcare experience.”

“As life sciences companies focus on digital transformation, technology standards are important to enable efficient information sharing across systems and platforms,” said Bhaskar Sambasivan, senior vice president and global head of life sciences markets at Cognizant. “We look forward to contributing to this important industry initiative that will help improve patient care.”

“The US healthcare system is complex, but by creating and implementing new standards, Align Biopharma can help advance digital capabilities for healthcare professionals,” said David Rosner, principal and digital life sciences leader, Deloitte Consulting LLP. “These new technology standards can not only benefit providers, but also patients by offering quicker access to medical records.”

“The benefits of Align Biopharma’s standards will extend beyond healthcare providers and pharmaceutical companies to patients, providing them a clear and uniform process to give consent for use of their healthcare data, while protecting their privacy and securing their personal information,” said Eyal Magen, chief strategy officer of Gigya. “Gigya is ready to make a significant contribution to this important effort.”