SANTA CLARA, Calif., April 30, 2013 -- NextBio today announced a multi-year collaboration with Sanofi (NYSE:SNY) aimed at using NextBio Clinical to incorporate patient omics and clinical data into Sanofi's drug research and development, as part of Sanofi's Translational Medicine for Patients (TM4P) program.

Sanofi has selected five finalists for its 2013 Data Design Diabetes Innovation Challenge, which will reward $100,000 to the team that develops the greatest innovative, data-driven design to improve diabetes health outcomes in the United States, according to its website. The winning team will receive the prize money at the Health Datapalooza IV in Washington, D.C. on June 4.

The Healthcare Transformation Group (HTG) announced on April 25 the formation of a research and development (R&D) team to advance the adoption of GS1® Standards and accelerate HTG’s work to implement a Unique Device Identification (UDI) system.

Harnessing data for better health outcomes is the next big push for health IT. Population health and analytics are critical components of accountable care and healthcare reform with the potential to truly improve quality of care while helping providers fend off federal penalties for underperformance.

Which activities Facebook users like could help predict, track and map obesity rates of where they reside, according to a research study published April 24 in PLOS ONE.

The FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health laid out next steps in developing a national medical device postmarket surveillance system in an April 2013 report.

A new prize series aims to help healthcare organizations use big data more effectively to drive improvements.

WASHINGTON, April 16, 2013 -- Today, the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC), Heritage Provider Network (HPN), and The Advisory Board Company launched the Care Transformation Prize Series , a national contest to address the most daunting data problems U.S. health care organizations face as they implement new delivery system and payment reforms.