Are You Listening to Patients? Patient Preferences and Clinical Trial Design

Are You Listening to Patients? Patient Preferences and Clinical Trial Design By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH Last fall, over 1500 Inspire members living with sarcoidosis, scleroderma, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, colorectal cancer, arthritis and psoriasis, completed a  survey on exploring patient preferences and insights on clinical trials. Our recent webinar, "A Hopeful Mindset," described preliminary results. Thirty-nine percent of respondents had cancer, 32% had a chronic condition - arthritis or psoriasis - and 29% had a rare disease. Over the next few months we will be sharing more details from the data.  Last week in "5 Benefits [...]

5 Benefits of Patient Focused Drug Development Sponsors Need to Know

The Patient Is Speaking: 5 Benefits of Patient Focused Drug Development Sponsors and CROs Need to Know By Sara Ray, MA Since the 2012 FDASIA reauthorization of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) and the 21st Century Cures Act ‐‐ Directing and Enabling Patient Focused Drug Development in 2016, integrating the patient perspective has been a priority. Our research team has conducted studies with patient and caregiver Inspire members for a variety of sponsors. I'd like to describe how these research projects produce important patient insights that inform and can improve clinical trials. Patient focused drug [...]

May 2019By |0 Comments

A Hopeful Mindset: Patient Insights on Clinical Trials Webinar

A Hopeful Mindset: Patient Insights on Clinical Trials Webinar By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH In November 2018, Inspire sent a clinical trial perceptions research survey to caregiver and patient members with the following conditions: ovarian, colorectal and prostate cancer; scleroderma and sarcoidosis; and psoriasis and arthritis. Over 1600 respondents completed instrument. Members were asked, “If you were eligible for a clinical trial, how interested would you be in participating?” One "very interested" member explained, “Scleroderma is a rare autoimmune disease which has no cure, so any research would help the future.” Another stated, “I have advanced cardiac [...]

Wearable Devices Revolutionize Clinical Trials… But when?

Wearable Devices Revolutionize Clinical Trials...But when? By Richard Tsai Here is the vision: Wearable devices open the floodgates to clinical trial participation. Patient-centric and portable, they’ll free the participants from multiple visits to the clinical site. Technology collects millions of data points per user per day, and then transmits it directly to researchers. High participation and rich real-world data and evidence (RWD/RWE) streamline clinical trials, satisfy 21st Century Cures Act requirements, and yield what everyone wants – a faster track to drug approval. 1 That time is coming – the Apple Watch 4 won FDA approval as [...]

Hacking clinical trials: Two awareness and protocol strategies invented by patients and caregivers that work

Hacking clinical trials: Two awareness and protocol strategies invented by patients and caregivers that work By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD Patients with life-threatening diseases aren’t waiting for someone to make participating in clinical trials easier for them. They are breaking down the barriers themselves. Two of these innovative methods were described at a March 18 Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative (CITI)-FDA event, “Enhancing the incorporation of the patient perspective in clinical trials.”1 Breaking barriers to clinical trial awareness In 2012, Tom Marsilje and his team from Novartis presented a cancer drug he had co-invented at the annual American Society [...]

Referring patients to clinical trials is personal, study shows

Referring patients to clinical trials is personal, study shows By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD MSPH Why is it so hard to get physicians to refer patients to clinical trials?  One cynical assumption is that physicians are afraid they’ll lose that patient’s business.  Not so, according to a Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development survey.1 Doctors are confident about and familiar with the clinical trial process. The survey of over 750 physicians found a high degree of comfort with clinical trials; almost 90 percent said they were comfortable providing and discussing clinical trial opportunities with patients. Yet [...]

Patient and caregiver perceptions of clinical trials: Preliminary findings

Patient and caregiver perceptions of clinical trials: Preliminary findings By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH Many of you have been in Philadelphia for the “Patients as Partners Conference.” Yesterday, Hannah Eccard, Research manager at Inspire, participated in a panel discussion titled, “Mapping Out the Patient Decision Journey.” The panel discussed the link between understanding patients --their lives, lifestyle, experiences-- and trial protocol design. Recently, Inspire’s research team completed the preliminary analysis of a survey to understand patient and caregiver perceptions and attitudes toward clinical trials. Over 1500 (1644), patient and caregiver members  experiencing either ovarian, prostate or colorectal [...]

On being a medical hero in the era of social media: Discussing clinical trial participation online

On being a medical hero in the era of social media: Discussing clinical trial participation online By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD “Garrett’s Hero Run” is not the name of a New York Times Bestseller or an up-and-coming blockbuster movie - though it could be. At the moment, it’s the name of a series of races held every year in a small town in Tennessee. A fundraiser name that is poignantly metaphorical. Everyone comes dressed as their favorite superhero and they run the races. But the name is also emblematic of urgency because this is a race against a [...]

How You Can Achieve Patient Focused Drug Development

How You Can Achieve Patient Focused Drug Development By Monica St Claire The application of a sociolinguistic lens can glean hidden meanings within seemingly ordinary communications. On the Society of Linguists website, Walt Wolfram, director of the North Carolina Language and Life Project at North Carolina State University said, “We use language to send vital social messages about who we are, where we come from, and who we associate with.” Wolfram says that we can learn much about a person just by their choice of a single word.1 In the area of health communication, linguists identify [...]

Rethinking patient engagement in clinical trials: Be part of the solution

Rethinking patient engagement in clinical trials: Be part of the solution By Kathleen D. Hoffman, PhD Seated in the waiting room of a large medical center, I overheard the bright eyed, young man behind the reception desk ask a new patient, “Would you like to learn more about participating in our research?” I smiled and thought, this is part of the solution. But it is a small part. I’ve been going to the same clinic for five years and today is the first time I’ve heard this question. I wondered if anyone would ask me - [...]