Efor accelerates the structuring of its center of excellence for health data valorization.

With a position among the leaders in specialized consulting for Life Sciences industries, the Efor Group supports its clients throughout the entire life cycle of their products. Aware of the growth and performance potential linked to data valorization, the group wanted to equip itself with a technological arm by integrating Soladis and its full-service CRO, Soladis Clinical Studies, in the summer of 2021.

Specialists since the 2000s in training and project management along the entire data value chain in France and abroad, Soladis experts enhance each of the Efor group’s business offers.

This year, by structuring its center of excellence for health data valorization around expertise in -omics, pre-clinical, clinical, laboratory, production and industrial data valoziation, the group consolidates its value proposition. We are unveiling here the contours of our interventions.

Technological advances in health data analysis over the last few decades have enabled scientists to achieve a new reading of living organisms. 

New technologies such as sequencing, NMR, mass spectrometry and many others, now provide access to genetic and molecular data of great potential, applicable to various themes such as medicine, diagnostics, agri-food, cosmetology or even environment.

Efor supports its clients in all aspects of their -omics projects (genomics, metagenomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics) : 

• protocol design,
• acquisition and management of -omics data thanks to specialized partners,
• data transformation and analysis,
• creation of data visualization tools, 
• data interpretation by a biologist or physician expert.

Accessing this biological data is only the first step in the process of valorizing living information. To go further in exploiting data throughout the product lifecycle, it is essential to complement the expertise of -omics with that of analytics and digitization. 

This is where our Data Stat and Digital department comes in.

Drawing on its experience in processing and valorizing health data through the use of mathematical and statistical methods, our Data Stat and Digital division, with the help of its fifty employees, supports our clients in their R&D, production, marketing and human resources/finance needs. They intervene at different levels of the data creation and valorization chain: 

• Sample size, number of experiments…, 
• Study design, 
• Definition of analysis methodology,
• Data query/extraction,
• Formatting according to analysis standards (CDISC and other formats),
• Data cleaning (atypical points, missing data, etc.),
• Descriptive methods, comparative analyses and others,
• Construction of explanatory, predictive and other models,
• Restitution of classic or dynamic statistical reports on the web, processing algorithms, etc. 

Valorizing health data is a real challenge. Choosing the right tool, data presentation methodology, interface… there are as many possibilities as there are data; and therefore as many opportunities to make a mistake!

Our team of digital specialists supports our clients in framing and formalizing their projects so that they are in line with their tools/processes.

Our experts construct algorithms, process data by identifying the best models and use the most suitable methods and tools to exploit the data and highlight it.

Rich in different training and experiences, our team adapts to the demands and professions of our clients to guarantee a tailor-made support and an optimal data valorization.

In addition to the activities carried out by the Data Valorization Center, Efor also has its own CRO, Soladis Clinical Studies by Efor. 

Organized around strong medical skills, our team is structured to meet the activities required to conduct and coordinate clinical studies on behalf of our clients – pharmaceutical companies in human or veterinary health, biotechs, medtechs, cosmetics and nutrition manufacturers and institutional clients. 

Our activities include : 

• Dedicated project management, maintenance of the Trial Master File and Centre Specific File, 
• Administrative and financial management of the project, 
• Methodology and design of the study: writing the synopsis, protocol, CRF, patient information note and generally all documents relating to the study, 
• Regulatory declarations (ANSM, CPP, CNIL, CNOM), 
• Recruitment of investigators/observers and management of study documentation (contracts, agreements, kits, CRF, patient notebooks, etc.), 
• Qualification and follow-up of investigator centers by our CRAs, 
• Vigilance: collection, follow-up and reporting of AEs and SAEs; reporting of SUSARS; drafting of DSURs,
• Data acquisition: e-CRF or double data entry by our operators (Clinsight / Ennov Clinical) in CDISC format, 
• Data validation: data management, queries management, 
• Statistical analysis (SAS and R), 
• Writing of statistical and clinical reports (ICH/ISO format)
• Valorization of results : abstracts, posters, research articles. 

Our CRO also handles activities relating to the clinical evaluation of medical devices and the performance evaluation of in vitro diagnostic devices. 

All these activities are carried out under the control of our quality assurance department, in compliance with current regulations (ANSM, EMA, FDA, etc.) and current standards (ICH, CDISC, ISO, etc.). 

Our customers benefit from the expertise of our team made up of about fifty collaborators whose work has been recognized by the medical and scientific community through more than 100 publications in international journals and more than 5,500 peer-reviewed papers.

Efor also anchors its culture of innovation by opening its artificial intelligence laboratory (AI Lab): 

Behind Efor’s values, which are commitment, excellence and sharing, we also find a strong culture of innovation. In order to go even further and pursue our ambitions, Efor has created and deployed its own artificial intelligence system, Aria, adapted to the demands of our clients, the market and our consultants. 

Our goal? To be a pioneer in the consulting sector to take advantage of the added value of AI, increase productivity and to bring value to each of our services.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has considerable potential in the field of life sciences and consulting. In addition to specific and targeted applications implemented within the various teams at the data valorization center, Efor has thought about concrete use cases that allow our clients to benefit from productivity gains linked to AI. 

Automating certain tasks indeed gives us the possibility to increase productivity through relevant data selections and thus frees us time for reflection, analysis and writing, guaranteeing deliverables that meet the market and our clients’ expectations. Here is how our AI Lab currently supports us in our missions and our development:

• Assistance in various areas, ranging from linguistic translation to writing assistance and targeted internal data analysis. Use of advanced technologies to optimize monitoring, semantic analysis and automation of repetitive tasks related to data collection and extraction.
• Implementation of tools to support interactive data visualization and the recommendation of targeted scientific literature.
• Analysis of empirical data relating to studies carried out, to aid decision-making on study protocols and designs.

As you will have understood, our AI Lab affirms our ongoing commitment to excellence, innovation and growth, with the ultimate aim of improving our operational efficiency and the quality of our services for the benefit of life sciences and industrial engineering.

Would you like to find out more? Please contact our experts at onedt@efor-group.com. We will be delighted to discuss with you.