The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Sept. 30 a federal program that aims to use artificial intelligence, computer modeling, and real-time data to test new drugs "faster, at lower cost, and with fewer participants." The announcement did not include a dollar figure for the effort.
The program, called SURPASS, will run through the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, or ARPA-H. A companion project would build national-scale data connections and a consent system for patient health records. HHS described that system as "privacy-by-design" but did not explain how patient data would be protected, who could access it, or how it would meet federal privacy law.
