BC Platforms Partnership to Drive New UK Health Data Research Tool

Health Data Research's Cohort Discovery functionality to transform UK's COVID-19 response through improved, safe access to data – using BC Platforms' BC|RQUEST technology

ZURICH and BOSTON, April 26, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today BC Platforms (BCP), a global leader in healthcare data management, analytics and access, announced the launch of the new Cohort Discovery (CD) search functionality on the Health Data Research (HDR UK) Innovation Gateway (The Gateway) – powered by BC|RQUEST technology in partnership with HDR UK. It will provide a pivotal resource that will help further the UK's and global medical research efforts, including critical work on COVID-19 basic research, prevention and treatment.

The transformational CD functionality, powered by BC|RQUEST technology, enables global researchers to discover, assess and request access to datasets by searching for specific cohorts or demographic groups across multiple datasets. CD facilitates access to data in a fast, secure, de-identified and ethical way through Trusted Research Environments – safe and secure locations from which researchers can access and analyse data, without needing to move the data around. The function will be rolled out across all the 640 datasets on The Gateway, with COVID datasets being prioritised initially.

Nino da Silva, Deputy Managing Director, BCP, said: "We are delighted to have been chosen as the trusted partner for HDR UK's ground-breaking, standardised approach to collection, storage and discovery of health datasets through its new CD tool, powered by BC|RQUEST. Our goal is to apply our deep knowledge and understanding of scientists' needs to accelerate impactful research and translation. Our partnership with HDR UK therefore provides an important demonstration of how BCP can play a significant role in supporting national-level medical research efforts."

Dr Susheel Varma, Director of Engineering, HDR UK, said "This new functionality enables us to perform analysis in whole new way and, as we continue to add more datasets into The Gateway, it will be a fantastic and growing asset for the research community, allowing new levels of analysis and insights that could ultimately feed through to the front line and improve patient care."

CD will provide improved functionality to The Gateway dataset access platform that was launched in early 2020. The vision for The Gateway is to become the primary go-to resource for discovering data, tools, best practice and collective knowledge and experience related to accessing resources to further health research.

This partnership extends the existing relationship between BCP and HDR UK, first formed in October 2020, when BCP was appointed as the data platform partner for the CO-CONNECT COVID project. CO-CONNECT COVID was set up to bring together UK COVID-19 immunity-related data using a standardised approach, to provide researchers with high-quality data in order to enable the rapid development of potential vaccines and treatments.

About BC Platforms

BC Platforms is a global leader in providing a powerful data and technology platform for personalized medicine, accelerating the translation of insights into clinical practice. Our technology drives the infinite loop between personalized care and research discoveries, leveraging latest science, deep technical expertise, strategic partnerships, and harmonized, diverse data collections. Our high performing genomic data discovery and analytics platform enables flexible data integration, secure analysis and interpretation of molecular and clinical information. Additionally, BC Platforms has developed a Global Data Partner Network BCRQUEST.com, which provides genomic and clinical cohort data for pharmaceutical and medical research and development. BC Platforms' vision is to build the world's leading analytics platform for healthcare and industry, providing access to diverse genomic and clinical data and samples from more than 5 million subjects, consolidated from a global network of Data Partners. 

Founded in 1997 from an MIT Whitehead project spinoff, the Company has a strong scientific heritage underpinned by over 20 years of working in close collaboration with a network of leading researchers, developers, and industry partners. BC Platforms has global operations with its headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, research and development in Espoo, Finland, and presence in London, Boston and in Singapore.  For more information, please visit www.bcplatforms.com or follow us on LinkedIn @BC Platforms.

About Cohort Discovery

Cohort Discovery uses the technology developed for ATLAS, an advanced data search tool for researchers; and builds on "CO-CONNECT", a project led by the Universities of Nottingham and Dundee in collaboration with Public Health England and the University of Edinburgh. Software and data engineers streamline, aggregate and standardise the data in each data set by mapping them to a common data model (OMOP).

The CO-CONNECT project is itself powered by software developed by BC Platforms, a global leader in data and technology for personalised medicine and drug development.

About Health Data Research UK

Health Data Research UK (HDR UK) is the national institute for health data science. Our mission is to unite the UK's health data to enable discoveries that improve people's lives. HDR UK is funded by UK Research and Innovation, the Department of Health and Social Care in England and equivalents in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland, and leading medical research charities. 

HDR UK was set up in 2018 to support research on health data at scale to advance our understanding of disease and enable new discoveries that will ultimately improve health and care. We have established national research programmes that use data at scale, and we are building an infrastructure to enable the responsible access and analysis of this data. Our work is structured around three themes: 

• Uniting health data – which includes the UK Health Data Research Alliance and the Health Data Research Innovation Gateway. 
• Improving health data – which includes tools, methods, Health Data Research Hubs and the BHF Data Science Centre. 
• Using health data – which includes research discoveries and skills development across four national priority areas: Understanding the Causes of Disease, Clinical Trials, Public Health and Better Care. 

We are delivering this strategy through our inclusive, team-oriented One Institute ethos - bringing together NHS, universities, research institutes and charities - built on our values.

Contact information:

Tero Silvola
BC Platforms AG
Tero.silvola@bcplatforms.com 

Katja Stout
Scius Communications
katja@sciuscommunications.com