Global healthcare AI company Ubie announced its AI-enabled symptom tracker will be integrated into PatientsLikeMe's patient engagement and health management platform to support patients from the first sign of symptoms through the treatment journey.   

Ubie offers a free AI-powered symptom checker trained on clinical research papers. The platform is intended to accelerate disease detection and, therefore, a patient's time to treatment.  

The company touts that its symptom tracker has been trained on "50,000 peer-reviewed publications, leverages a panel of more than 50 medical specialists for accuracy and is connected to more than 1,500 healthcare providers organization for real-world feedback."

Massachusetts-based PatientsLikeMe is a personalized health network with a patient support community, health management and a real-world data platform. It emerged in 2004 as one of the early players in the digital health space. 

The initial phase of the collaboration will see Ubie's symptoms tracker integrated into the PatientsLikeMe platform. The companies say the checker will allow for patient engagement early in the disease process, provide access to education and enhance clinical trial recruitment and research. 

Patients will have access to information on conditions and be guided to the appropriate medical care. Via PatientsLikeMe, patients will also have access to a community where newly diagnosed patients and those living with illnesses. 

The next phase of the collaboration will see the creation of a PatientsLikeMe web experience with customized connections between Ubie's and PatientsLikeMe services and the development of an API to integrate Ubie's symptom checker. 

"It’s so important to meet patients where they are. Many people engage in online research before they even go to a doctor but the overwhelming amount of information – and disinformation – makes providing trustworthy, medically accurate resources even more important,” said Kota Kubo, Ubie cofounder and co-CEO, said in a statement. 

"Ubie and PatientsLikeMe will create a comprehensive and impactful digital patient journey that uses powerful capabilities to reach and engage patients within specific disease states."

THE LARGER TREND

Last year, Ubie announced it was one of six launch partners of Google for Health Connect (Beta) in Japan. Health Connect is an Android platform allowing data sharing between health and fitness apps and enabling easy management of health data.

In July, Ubie and the American Kidney Fund (AKF) shared exclusively with MobiHealthNews that the pair would collaborate to fine-tune Ubie's AI-enabled symptom checker for kidney disease detection, with the aim of accelerating a patient's time to treatment. 

In 2019, PatientsLikeMe announced it signed a deal with UnitedHealth Group to become part of the managed healthcare and insurance company's research branch, which sparked concerns about privacy and data sharing among the public, particularly visible on social media.

Two years later, the company announced it received $26 million in funding, bringing its total raise to $153 million.

In 2022, the Massachusetts-based company announced a partnership with LetsGetChecked, which would provide PatientsLikeMe members access to the at-home diagnostics company's offerings and discounts on screening tests.

In September, the company announced it would collaborate with SEQSTER, a multidimensional healthcare data platform, to leverage both companies' offerings to accelerate clinical research, enhance patient engagement and improve clinical trial recruitment.