Q² Solutions and Tasso Collaborate to Provide Unique Solutions for Patients to Accelerate Adoption of Decentralized Clinical Trials

Q² Solutions, a wholly-owned subsidiary of IQVIA and a leading clinical trial laboratory services organization, today announced a transformative collaboration with Tasso Inc., a pioneer in clinical-grade, at-home, patient-centered blood testing, to develop diagnostic tests used in decentralized (virtual) clinical trials. These new laboratory-developed tests will use Tasso’s devices, enabling patients to collect their own blood using a virtually painless process from anywhere at any time. 

“The current COVID-19 pandemic has created a surge in demand for more virtual clinical trials and remote patient monitoring applications,” said Ben Casavant, PhD, CEO and Co-founder of Tasso. “Tasso is now poised to accelerate this paradigm shift in patient care through our clinical-grade and convenient blood collection experience. We are excited to partner with an industry leader like Q² Solutions to expand our growing menu of pre-validated assays and enable more individuals to benefit from the latest advances in clinical trials and diagnostic testing.”

Tasso’s devices enable patients to collect their own blood samples for analysis without any training or the need to travel to a physician’s office, hospital, or other clinical site – reducing the burden of participating in a clinical trial. The devices are currently in use by leading pharmaceutical companies across multiple clinical trials for their research and development efforts.

“We are delighted to collaborate with Tasso on this innovative, patient-centric approach to blood collection for decentralized clinical trials,” said Brian O’Dwyer, CEO of Q² Solutions. “Prior to formalizing the agreement, we completed a pilot study of traditional methods of drawing blood using needle injections directly into veins compared with capillary blood draws, which are closer to the surface of the skin, and easier to complete using the innovative Tasso devices. We were able to consistently capture large capillary blood volumes that closely matched amounts from the same participants versus standard methods.”

About Q² Solutions 
Q² Solutions is a leading global clinical trial laboratory services organization providing comprehensive testing, project management, supply chain, biorepository, biospecimen and consent tracking solutions. Leveraging our next generation technologies, we deliver agile and precise services designed to meet the diverse needs of our clients. We provide scientific expertise and innovative solutions for ADME, bioanalytical, genomics, vaccines and central laboratory services, including flow cytometry, anatomic pathology, immunoassay, molecular and companion diagnostics, with meticulous regional and global clinical trial implementation support and high-quality data delivery. At Q² Solutions, our work is rooted in research, grounded in collaboration, and guided by our passion to turn the hope of patients and caregivers around the world into the help they need. To learn more, visit www.q2labsolutions.com.  

About Tasso
Tasso is an emerging healthcare company that is transforming the traditional blood collection process with a more convenient and virtually painless approach that focuses on the patient. The company’s devices allow people to collect blood with the push of a button from the comfort and privacy of their home, and then mail the samples back to a qualified laboratory for analysis. Headquartered in Seattle, Tasso is privately held and funded by grants from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, and the National Institutes of Health, by investments from Hambrecht Ducera Growth Ventures, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, Foresite Capital, Vertical Venture Partners, Techstars, and Cedars Sinai, and by co-development deals with various industry leaders. For more information, please visit www.tassoinc.com and follow @tassoinc.
 
About IQVIA
IQVIA (NYSE:IQV) is a leading global provider of advanced analytics, technology solutions, and clinical research services to the life sciences industry. IQVIA creates intelligent connections across all aspects of healthcare through its analytics, transformative technology, big data resources and extensive domain expertise. IQVIA Connected Intelligence™ delivers powerful insights with speed and agility — enabling customers to accelerate the clinical development and commercialization of innovative medical treatments that improve healthcare outcomes for patients. With approximately 72,000 employees, IQVIA conducts operations in more than 100 countries.
 
IQVIA is a global leader in protecting individual patient privacy. The company uses a wide variety of privacy-enhancing technologies and safeguards to protect individual privacy while generating and analyzing information on a scale that helps healthcare stakeholders identify disease patterns and correlate with the precise treatment path and therapy needed for better outcomes. IQVIA’s insights and execution capabilities help biotech, medical device and pharmaceutical companies, medical researchers, government agencies, payers and other healthcare stakeholders tap into a deeper understanding of diseases, human behaviors and scientific advances, in an effort to advance their path toward cures. To learn more, visit www.iqvia.com.