Nir Lerer, Author at Latica

Exploring the Intersection of Inflammation & Immunology Diseases

Author: Collin Labar, Life Science Partnerships, Latica

Latica’s Data Network of Gastroenterology, ENT, and Dermatology connects at the center of one high impact market: Inflammation and Immunology.

Inflammation and Immunology (I&I) is at the heart of many chronic and debilitating diseases, spanning multiple healthcare verticals. These diseases are characterized by overactive or misdirected immune responses, leading to tissue damage, impaired function, and significant patient burden.

For life sciences companies, advancing I&I research is not just about innovation—it’s about transforming patient care through cutting-edge therapies powered by data-driven insights real-world evidence (RWE). At Latica, we enable this transformation by providing the tools and insights necessary to drive meaningful change in I&I research and patient outcomes.

The I&I Landscape: A Common Thread Across Verticals

From the gastrointestinal system to the skin and respiratory pathways, inflammation plays a pivotal role in disease progression. Conditions like Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), psoriasis, and nasal polyps may manifest in different organs but are united by underlying immune dysregulation. This commonality has spurred the development of therapies that target shared inflammatory pathways, such as TNF-alpha inhibitors, JAK inhibitors, and interleukin (IL) modulators.

For instance:

TNF-alpha inhibitors like infliximab (Remicade) are effective in treating Crohn’s disease, psoriasis, and even certain ENT-related autoimmune conditions
IL-4 and IL-13 inhibitors such as dupilumab (Dupixent) have emerged as game-changers foratopic dermatitis, eosinophilic esophagitis, asthma, and nasal polyps, showcasing their versatility across dermatology, GI and ENT

This cross-vertical impact underscores the importance of comprehensive research and innovation that spans beyond disease silos.

The Role of Research and Real-World Data (RWD)

To truly transform care, life sciences companies need more than clinical trial data—they need insights from the real world. RWD, typically derived from electronic health records, claims data, patient registries, and even wearable devices, offers unparalleled opportunities to address critical gaps in I&I research.

How Latica Expands the Value of RWD:

Unstructured Clinical Data Access: Latica ingests all unstructured data from siloed data sources (physician notes, procedure reports, biomarkers, biopsies, precision medicine testing) and maps them to the patient journey, providing an in-depth understanding of clinical outcomes and patient phenotypes.
Comprehensive RWD Integration: By synthesizing structured and unstructured data, we provide a holistic view of patient journeys across verticals like GI, ENT, and dermatology.
Advanced Analytics: Our cutting-edge tools uncover trends, identify treatment gaps, and support biomarker discovery, paving the way for personalized medicine in I&I.
Accelerating Drug Development: From preclinical research to post-market surveillance, Latica enables life sciences companies to design better trials, predict outcomes, and validate therapeutic efficacy in real-world settings.
Supporting Value-Based Care: With our RWD-driven insights, organizations can demonstrate treatment value, improve payer-provider collaboration, and optimize patient care pathways.

Use Cases of RWD for I&I Advancements

Refining Patient Understanding

I&I diseases often present heterogeneously, with symptoms and severity varying widely. For example, some IBD patients may experience mild inflammation managed with oral therapies, while others require biologics to control severe disease. RWD provides a comprehensive view of disease phenotypes, helping researchers segment patient populations for better-targeted therapies.

Improving Treatment Pathways

Real-world evidence helps identify how therapies perform outside the controlled environment of clinical trials. This is particularly critical in I&I, where patient adherence, comorbidities, and long-term outcomes are key factors in treatment success. By analyzing RWD, life sciences companies can evaluate comparative effectiveness and fine-tune treatment pathways to improve outcomes.

Enabling Precision Medicine

Precision medicine relies on biomarkers to tailor therapies to individual patients. In I&I, this could mean identifying patients more likely to respond to IL-23 inhibitors for psoriasis or selecting JAK inhibitors for refractory cases of ulcerative colitis. RWD accelerates biomarker discovery and validation, ensuring therapies reach the right patients faster.

Supporting Post-Market Research

Therapies in the I&I space, such as biologics and advanced small molecules, are among the most innovative yet costly treatments available. Payers and providers demand robust, real-world evidence to justify these investments. Post-market studies using RWD not only demonstrate a therapy’s value but also uncover new indications and long-term safety profiles.

The Future of I&I Research with Latica

The intersection of I&I research and RWD offers a promising path forward for life sciences companies:

Shared Pathways, Shared Solutions: Cross-vertical therapies targeting inflammation offer scalable solutions for complex diseases.
Data-Driven Innovation: RWD enables life sciences companies to identify unmet needs, improve trial design, and validate outcomes.
Patient-Centric Care: Personalized therapies informed by real-world insights empower patients and clinicians to make better decisions.

The future of Inflammation & Immunology (I&I) research lies in breaking down data silos and leveraging real-world evidence to better understand disease heterogeneity, optimize treatment pathways, and advance precision medicine. By integrating structured and unstructured clinical data across specialties like GI, dermatology, and ENT, researchers can uncover shared inflammatory pathways, improve patient segmentation, and refine therapeutic strategies. Real-world data provides the missing link between clinical trials and everyday patient care, offering insights into long-term treatment effectiveness, biomarker validation, and post-market safety. As the field continues to evolve, harnessing these insights will be essential for developing targeted, data-driven solutions that improve outcomes for patients living with chronic inflammatory diseases.

Reflecting on 2024 and Looking Ahead to 2025

2024: A Year of Transformation and Growth – Here’s What’s Next for Latica in 2025

As we close the chapter on 2024 and look toward the opportunities of 2025, I want to take a moment to reflect on an incredible year for Latica. It was a year of transformation, growth, and laying the groundwork for an even brighter future.

A Year of Transformation
The most visible change this year was our rebranding from Lynx.MD to Latica—a name that reflects our vision for the future of healthcare research. Deriving from the strong structural properties of a lattice, this new identity symbolizes the strength of data interconnectedness and our determination to maximize the value extracted by healthcare providers, researchers, AI companies and life science organizations from both structured and unstructured data.

While our name changed, our mission remained steadfast: to revolutionize healthcare through the power of connected data. We have never been more committed to breaking down silos, driving innovation, and improving outcomes for patients and providers worldwide.

Unprecedented Growth in 2024
This past year, we achieved incredible milestones:

Sales Expansion: 2024 saw a substantial expansion in our sales, with standout growth in data partnerships with some of the most innovative life sciences companies.
Expanding Networks: We solidified our position as leaders in GI and ENT, with impressive datasets that are driving research and AI development in these areas.
New Specialties: Beyond ENT and GI, we took significant steps into dermatology, creating new opportunities for collaboration and real-world evidence generation.
Strong Partnerships: Our growing collaborations with providers and life sciences organizations have amplified the impact of our platform on driving quality care and established Latica as a trusted partner in healthcare research.

These achievements reflect the dedication of our team and the strength of our partnerships, which are the backbone of our success.

What’s Next for 2025
As we look to 2025, we’re excited to build on this momentum with ambitious goals:

Driving Insights and AI Innovation: We’ll continue to enhance our platform’s capabilities, capitalizing on the wave of AI models with the unique data within our network, providing even deeper and more actionable insights for our partners.
Broadening Specialties: With robust ENT and GI networks in place, we’ll focus on strengthening these areas while advancing our work in dermatology and other specialties.
Collaborative Growth: Strengthening existing partnerships and forging new ones will remain central to our strategy as we empower life sciences companies with impactful data solutions.

A Heartfelt Thank You
To our team, partners, and clients: thank you for making 2024 a year to remember. Your trust, collaboration, and belief in our mission inspire us every day. Together, we’ve built a foundation for meaningful change in healthcare, and I am confident that 2025 will bring even greater achievements.

Here’s to another year of breaking barriers, driving innovation, and improving healthcare for all.

Warm regards,
Omer Dror
Founder & CEO, Latica

Beyond Skin Deep: How Data Connects Autoimmune Diseases for Better Treatments

Author: Omer Dror, CEO & Co-Founder

When founding Latica, I was constantly haunted by the questions: How can data help bring truly impactful treatments to market faster while ensuring their long-term success and positive outcomes? How do we leverage data to accelerate progress in healthcare? I naturally believe the answer lies in the data, but what I’ve come to know is that in many cases, pulling together real-world data (RWD) from seemingly disparate fields like dermatology, gastroenterology, and otolaryngology can tell a more accurate story.

The Immunological Connection: Why These Fields Hold the Key

The success of this approach lies in the surprising interconnectedness of chronic illnesses, revealing a common thread – immunology and the resulting inflammation. Disruptions in the immune system play a significant role in the development of conditions like psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). This overlap presents a golden opportunity: by collecting longitudinal RWD – patient data gathered over an extended period – we can identify shared biomarkers and treatment targets across these conditions.

The Financial Burden of Autoimmune Diseases

The economic impact of autoimmune diseases is staggering. According to the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA), the annual direct healthcare costs associated with autoimmune diseases exceed $100 billion in the United States alone. This figure likely underestimates the true cost, as it only accounts for seven of the more than 100 known autoimmune diseases. When considering all autoimmune conditions, the total annual cost could potentially reach $300 billion.

Let’s break down the costs for some specific autoimmune and allergic/inflammatory conditions:

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA): The annual direct cost of treating RA in the US is estimated at $10.9 billion, with indirect costs totaling $8.4 billion. Some studies suggest the total cost could be as high as $16 billion to $47.6 billion annually.
Psoriasis: With approximately 9 million affected individuals in the US, the annual cost of psoriasis treatment ranges from $51.6 to $63.2 billion. Monthly costs for topical treatments can average upwards of $600, while annual biologic costs can range from $40,000 to $50,000 per patient.
Multiple Sclerosis (MS): The estimated annual cost for MS treatment in the US is $63.3 billion.
Add ibd, asthma

Beyond the Finish Line: The Untapped Value of Post-Approval RWD

The traditional drug development model often overlooks a crucial phase: what happens after a drug receives FDA approval? This is where RWD shines. Here’s why:

Unveiling the Real-World Picture: Clinical trials offer a controlled environment, but they don’t capture the complexities of real-world use. RWD paints a more holistic picture, revealing how patients respond to treatments in their everyday lives, including potential side effects and long-term efficacy.

Precision Medicine Takes Flight: Imagine tailoring treatment plans not just to a primary condition, but to a patient’s unique profile across specialties. Diverse RWD empowers this kind of personalized approach, potentially leading to improved outcomes and reduced healthcare costs.

The Economic Impact of Early Diagnosis and Treatment

Early diagnosis and treatment of autoimmune diseases can significantly reduce healthcare costs. For example, studies have shown that RA patients miss an average of 7.92 work days per year compared to 4.34 days for individuals without RA. By identifying and treating these conditions earlier, we can potentially reduce both direct medical costs and indirect costs associated with lost productivity.

Turning the Tide: Overcoming Challenges

Of course, there are challenges. Integrating data across specialties, ensuring patient privacy, and utilizing notes that contain crucial insight into the patient experience, disease severity, and clinical outcomes require focused efforts. However, the potential rewards far outweigh the hurdles.

The Future is Connected: Seizing the Opportunity

By embracing RWD we can unlock a new era of post-approval success. Imagine a future where data is used for precision targeting of patients most likely to respond to a given treatment and clinical pathways are continuously refined based on real-world data, leading to better patient outcomes, less switching of treatments, and reduced cost. This is the power of connecting data, and those who recognize its potential will be at the forefront of the next wave of medical innovation.

The call to action is clear: Let’s leverage the power of RWD to bridge the gap between approval and long-term success. Together, we can ensure that our innovations not only reach the market faster but also deliver on their promise to improve patients’ lives in the long run while potentially reducing the enormous financial burden of autoimmune diseases on our healthcare system.

Reference Sources

General Cost of Autoimmune Diseases: The American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA) reports that the annual direct healthcare costs associated with autoimmune diseases exceed $100 billion in the U.S. This figure is likely an understatement, as it only accounts for seven of the more than 100 known autoimmune diseases, with the total costs potentially reaching $300 billion annually.

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA): The direct cost of treating RA in the U.S. is estimated at $10.9 billion, with indirect costs totaling $8.4 billion. Some estimates suggest that the total cost could range between $16 billion and $47.6 billion annually.

Psoriasis: The annual cost of psoriasis treatment is estimated to range from $51.6 billion to $63.2 billion. Monthly costs for topical treatments can average upwards of $600, while annual biologic treatment costs range from $40,000 to $50,000 per patient.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS): The estimated annual cost for MS treatment in the U.S. is approximately $63.3 billion.

Economic Impact of Early Diagnosis and Treatment: Studies have shown that patients with RA miss an average of 7.92 workdays per year compared to 4.34 days for individuals without RA, highlighting the indirect costs associated with lost productivity.