ST. PAUL, Minn. — Gillette Children’s, a global leader in providing specialty care for children who have disabilities, and rare and complex medical conditions, announces the launch of KidSights™, a groundbreaking initiative aimed at bridging the innovation gap in pediatric specialty medicine. By leveraging the power of real-world data (RWD) in a secure, efficient, and collaborative manner, KidSights data consortium aims to accelerate the development of commercial innovation directed at solutions for children.
Gillette is the founding member of KidSights, with Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital in Toronto, Canada, joining as the second member.
Addressing a Critical Challenge
Pediatric healthcare innovation has long lagged advancements in adult medicine, leaving millions of vulnerable children without access to cutting-edge treatments and solutions. KidSights seeks to address this underinvestment by empowering healthcare organizations, industry innovators, and regulators to work together using aggregated, de-identified pediatric data. This initiative focuses on identifying unmet needs, fostering innovation, and driving faster commercialization of therapies tailored to children, particularly those requiring specialty care.
“In our long history of providing specialty care for children with complex conditions and rare diseases, we’ve consistently led and innovated clinical advancements that directly benefit the community we serve,” says Barbara Joers, president and CEO of Gillette. “The launch of KidSights marks a transformative step forward in pediatric health. Gillette Children’s looks forward to utilizing the data derived from KidSights to tackle enduring challenges and drive clinical advancements for the children who need them most.”
“For far too long, pediatric disability health data have not been effectively aggregated and made widely accessible, which has led to a major innovation gap,” says Julia Hanigsberg, president and CEO at Holland Bloorview. “The KidSights data consortium is a critical step in the right direction. By participating, Holland Bloorview expects to close that gap and speed up the development of personalized therapies and interventions to improve outcomes for children and youth with disabilities, developmental differences and rare genetic conditions within and beyond our walls.”
A Vision for Progress
KidSights uses a secure, privacy-enhancing technology platform to enable seamless collaboration and data sharing among members and clients using de-identified electronic medical records (EMR) clinical data to:
- Enhance research and development efforts for complex and rare pediatric conditions.
- Identify critical gaps in pediatric care and prioritize high-need areas.
- Accelerate commercialization and clinical trials to bring therapies to market faster.
KidSights offers a host of benefits to its members and clients, including:
- Collaborative model: Like-minded healthcare organizations focused on caring for children with complex needs play an advisory role, shaping the future strategy and growth of KidSights; members can access the data to advance their own research.
- Accelerated innovation: Streamlined access to de-identified EMR data enables pharmaceutical, device, and early-stage companies to collaborate with regulators and prove the value of their solutions.
- Enhanced security: Advanced de-identification technology ensures compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and other privacy regulations, allowing data sharing without moving sensitive information across firewalls.
“We’re committed to advancing care for children with unique clinical needs through the launch of KidSights,” said Patrick Nolan, president of KidSights. “KidSights has the potential for great impact, positively benefiting children across the globe.”
For more information about KidSights, please visit www.kidsights.com.
KidSights is a subsidiary of Gillette Children’s.
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About Gillette Children’s
Gillette Children’s is a global beacon of care for patients with brain, bone and movement conditions that start in childhood. Our research, treatment and supportive technologies enable every child to lead a full life defined by their dreams, not their diagnoses. Founded in 1897, Gillette collaborates with patients, families and our partners in clinical leadership, research and advocacy to set the standard of care and opportunity for children with complex medical challenges. To learn more about Gillette, visit gillettechildrens.org.
About Holland Bloorview
Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital believes in creating a world where all youth and children belong. We are the only children’s rehabilitation hospital in Canada focused on combining world-class care, transformational research, and academic leadership in the field of child and youth rehabilitation and disability. We are a top 40 Canadian research hospital that is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto. Providing both inpatient and outpatient services, Holland Bloorview is renowned for its expertise in co-creating with clients and families to provide exceptional care and is the only organization to ever achieve 100 per cent in three successive quality surveys by Accreditation Canada. Holland Bloorview is a founding member of Kids Health Alliance, a network of partners working to create a high quality, consistent and coordinated approach to pediatric health care that is centered around children, youth and their families. Together we dream big. Together we champion a world of possibility. For more information or to donate, please visit hollandbloorview.ca or connect on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and the parent-blog BLOOM.
