Caregivers: An Untapped Resource for Clinical Research

Caregivers: An Untapped Resource for Clinical Research By Hannah Eccard, MA Caregivers provide substantial support to the health and well-being of patients in the US. One of their contributions involves helping patients search for, and participate in, clinical trials. Caregivers turn to Inspire for help finding and accessing clinical trials. My father was diagnosed [date] with stage 4 [type] cancer. He has been on numerous rounds of chemotherapy and last scan showed the cancer has progressed…We are now waiting news of any clinical trial he is eligible for…. He is in stable condition now without any issues... [...]

Merck’s Patient-Centric Clinical Trial Recruiting

Merck’s Patient-Centric Clinical Trial Recruiting By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD MSPH Merck boosts clinical trial recruitment with a patient-centric mindset Everyone in pharma knows that product success depends on the results of clinical trials -- but we don’t usually hear from the people who are involved in running them.  Recently, four Clinical Research Managers (CRM) from Merck (known as MSD outside the United States and Canada) discussed how Merck is overcoming the barriers to clinical trial recruitment by adopting a patient-centric process -- a model that affects their trials top to bottom, from design through implementation. Each of [...]

How R&D Teams Can Use Patient-Centricity for Clinical Trial Optimization

How R&D Teams Can Use Patient Centricity for Clinical Trial Optimization By Monica St. Claire In 2014, Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development performed a comprehensive assessment of the use of social media and digital technology in clinical research. This forward-thinking study revealed that pharmaceutical, biotechnology companies and contract research organizations (CROs) had not implemented strategies to effectively utilize and capitalize on the patient and caregiver content available.1 Today, Inspire’s products and services address these clinical trial optimization essentials. Specifically, our tools provide pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies’ research and development (R&D) teams as well [...]

What is a Virtual Advisory Board product?

What is a Virtual Advisory Board product? By Monica St. Claire Almost 60 percent of all clinical trial protocols have at least one amendment. Amendments lower the numbers of recruited patients as well as increase the cost of clinical trials according to Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development Impact Study from 2016.1  Obtaining input from patients and caregivers early in the protocol development process could prevent many amendments. This is just one reason to consider an Inspire virtual advisory board. Virtual advisory boards provide clients with a long-term opportunity to engage with key patients [...]