Aifred Health, an award-winning digital healthcare company, announced the treatment of the first patient in its 350 patient North American Clinical Trial. This clinical trial, a world-first in the treatment of mental health using an AI-based clinical decision support tool, was designed with input from US and Canadian regulatory authorities to validate Aifred’s AI platform for use with patients suffering from moderate to severe depression.
The trial is being conducted at up to 12 U.S. and Canadian centres of excellence for depression treatment including Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals where Aifred is a VA research partner. Aifred expects to complete enrollment in 2022 and report top-line results in mid 2023.
Aifred’s technology was developed using high quality clinical data from clinical trials evaluating therapeutic treatments of depression and is not reliant on any external test inputs. Aifred’s software was developed with and for treating physicians (family doctors and psychiatrists) who have limited tools to personalize the therapeutic choice for patients, leading to what is for many patients a lengthy and painful trial-and-error process. Aifred’s software is intended to support clinical decision making and improve this experience for patients and clinicians alike.
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Commenting on the trial initiation, Marina Massingham, Aifred President & CEO, noted: “We are incredibly happy to begin our North American regulatory approval trial. Since our technology placed #1 in North America and #2 in the world in the IBM Watson AI XPRIZE, our staff has been working tirelessly to complete the work needed to initiate and complete this clinical trial which will provide clinicians across North America with a much-needed tool. We are working with and being advised by some of the leading experts and centers of excellence for the treatment of depression in North America and are gratified by their support and enthusiasm as we seek to tackle the key problem of improving depression treatment, for the benefit of patients, families, employers, and healthcare systems.”
Dr. David Benrimoh, Chief Scientific Officer, Aifred Health, added: “We have been collaborating with clinicians and clinical centres for more than 3 years to inform and guide our development of a decision support tool that will integrate into clinical workflow and be used by treating physicians to positively impact care. If the clinical trial validates our hypothesis, I expect the rapid adoption of Aifred’s technology across North America, as the advantages for the patients, doctors, and hospitals are crystal clear.”
Physicians and patients who are interested in receiving additional information about this landmark clinical trial can consult: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04655924
About Aifred Health
Aifred Health, a Montreal-based digital healthcare company, is delivering clinician-focused solutions for the treatment of mental health including a world-class AI approach to providing clinical decision support in mental health. In June 2021 Aifred’s AI technology placed # 1 in North America and #2 in the world in the global IBM WATSON AI XPRIZE. Aifred initiated its regulatory approval clinical trial for decision support in major depression in Q2 2022 and has begun work to extend its technology to a second indication in mental health. Aifred’s current clinical trial received financial support from the Brain Canada Foundation.
