Samsung Electronics is directly linking biometric data collected from wearable devices to clinical trials for new drug development. Samsung said on Tuesday it signed a partnership with Germany's digital clinical trial specialist Alcedis and decided to put health data collected by Galaxy Watch into full use in clinical research.

Alcedis is a company that has conducted clinical trials in oncology, cardiology and neurology since it was founded in 1992. It is now a subsidiary of global healthcare AI company Huma Group and is leading the digital transformation of clinical research. Through the cooperation, the two companies will expand the scope of wearable technology from everyday health management to medical research.

A key task the partners will jointly develop is a method to convert biometric data collected in real life through Galaxy Watch sensors into clinical metrics to evaluate the efficacy and safety of new drugs. The company said they plan to cooperate across the entire clinical research process, from data collection to monitoring study participants, trial operations and regulatory 대응.

Samsung is also pushing to build a Connected Care ecosystem that links wearable-based health data with actual medical services. It acquired Xealth, a platform company that connects digital healthcare solutions with about 500 large hospitals in the United States, and plans to link health data from Galaxy devices with hospitals' electronic medical record systems to support preventive, personalised care.

Jong-min Choi (최종민), an executive vice president in Samsung's MX Business health development group, said Samsung has supported researchers with various development tools including the Samsung Health SDK, and the cooperation will help ensure everyday data leads to new drug development research and innovation for patients.

Alcedis Chief Executive Hanno Haertlein (Hanno Härtlein) said the partnership with Samsung will combine the strengths of both companies and scalable infrastructure to speed up research and lead to more patient-centred healthcare innovation.