ShareRoot Ltd (ASX:SRO) has entered into a collaboration with St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne to apply the data security company's MediaConsent platform.
The platform will be used to improve the dynamics of clinical trial recruitment, patient engagement in and around clinical trials and understanding patient health-related behaviour through the use of social media and the proper accompanying consent processes.
ShareRoot co-founder & CEO Noah Abelson-Gertler said: "Valuable health-related data and content is shared online every day by millions of people via social media.
"That is where MediaConsent comes into play.
"Our goal is for MediaConsent to be a reliable, sensitive, and ethical platform that reduces the barriers and encourages doctors, nurses and allied health professionals to engage in clinical research with a far wider scope while ensuring that patients and their carers are in control of their data."
READ: ShareRoot launches MediaConsent pilot program with US social media agency
The collaboration will be led by Michelle Gallaher, managing director of The Social Science (TSS), a Melbourne-based digital agency acquired by ShareRoot in April.
It will also include a group of specialist advisors representing St Vincent's Research Directorate who have invaluable knowledge and networks within the global clinical research and clinical trials industry.
TSS brokered the memorandum of understanding and the collaboration is expected to open up a number of government grant and research and development tax incentive opportunities for both parties.
READ: ShareRoot eyes growth opportunities as data privacy regulations become stricter
St Vincent's along with ShareRoot and TSS have identified the urgent need in the industry for a technology that can protect patient data and privacy on social media, while supporting clinical research by gaining consensual access to this global data set.
ShareRoot views the growing interest in real world data (RWD) and real world evidence (RWE) in the pharmaceutical and medical technology industry by regulators and technology developers worldwide as remarkable.
RWD can be derived from a number of sources such as wearable technologies and social media.
READ: ShareRoot launches MediaConsent beta with two partners
St Vincent's in Melbourne is part of the St Vincent's Health Australia Group, a Catholic not-for-profit healthcare provider which is Australia's 12th largest privately held company.
The $2-billion organisation's 16,000 employees offer more than 1 million occasions of care a year from 27 public and private hospitals and aged care facilities along Australia's eastern seaboard.