Shyft Analytics scores a win with Tetraphase Pharma to develop a launch plan

Shyft Analytics (recently acquired by Medidata Solutions, a leading software provider for clinical trials) is touting its selection by Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals (Watertown, MA), for Shyft’s Intelligent Platform for Life Sciences, a Big Data technology for providing commercial insights. Tetraphase expects Q3 FDA approval of eravacycline, currently under FDA review, as a treatment for complicated intra-abdominal infections (cIAI), and eventually as a broad-spectrum antibiotic for multidrug-resistant bacterial infections.

The challenge for clients like Tetraphase, says Priya Sapra, SVP, Product & Customer Engagement at Shyft, is to anticipate where a specialty drug like eravacycline will be used. “Our Intelligent Platform pulls in data from multiple sources to help figure that out, by physician and healthcare organization.” Shyft engaged with Tetraphase over a year before the anticipated launch date, with everyone recognizing that “without the right analytics at launch, the full commercial potential of the drug will not be reached.”

Shyft has evolved a variety of modules for its Intelligent Platform: Strata, for data analytics; Lumen, for data visualization (Tetraphase will be using these two products); Quantum, for performing analytics retrospectively, and Nova, for patient care coordination. Data from hundreds of sources, including sales and claims data, are pulled in, “ingested and processed” (as Shyft puts it) and compared. “What we’ve learned is, there is no single best source of data,” says Sapra.

The past focus for Shyft was answering questions about commercial plans and programs, while new parent Medidata has been focused on the clinical research phase. Now, however, Medidata will be seeking to use Shyft’s technology to provide end-to-end analytics. Shyft and Medidata have just announced that Novartis will be  using the combined service: “Medidata and Shyft have come together in a way that allows us to share data and insights seamlessly across our Clinical Development and Commercial teams," said Bertrand Bodson, chief digital officer at Novartis. "We are committed to reimagining medicine with data and digital, and this technology helps us do that by supporting our pharma sales reps.”