As a proof-of-concept, we utilized a novel, low-touch, digital platform for phenotyping rodent models of disease for preclinical research to create the Vium Arthritis Index™ (VAI), an objective and automated behavioral metric that requires no human-animal interaction during the measurement of disease parameters. We used the VAI to assess disease progression in a rat collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) model of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), by which rats were treated with one of four standard-of-care treatments, or with one of nine proprietary re-purposed drugs.