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 [...]

Read More
Mar 2020By |1 Comment

Transforming Fear into Hope: Prostate Cancer Treatment Discussions on Inspire

Transforming Fear into Hope: Prostate Cancer Treatment Discussions on Inspire By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD MSPH In October 2009, Us TOO Prostate Cancer partnered with Inspire to support men diagnosed with prostate cancer. Now, the Us TOO International Prostate Cancer Support Community on Inspire has over 23,000 members. Last year, almost 500 new discussions started in the area of treatment options, prompting over 5500 new replies. When patients and caregivers started 148 discussions about being newly diagnosed, they received more than 2500 replies from fellow patients, who supported and educated them. Patient and caregiver members often introduce themselves [...]

Read More
Feb 2020By |0 Comments

Patients Should Inform Clinical Trial Development: Inspire Webinar 1 2020

Patients Should Inform Clinical Trial Development: Inspire Webinar 1 2020 By Jeff Terkowitz Lesley Gosden, a patient and patient advocate with Parkinson's disease, gave the patient keynote speech opening “Patients As Partners Europe,” held January 27-28.1 She described her experience in the GDNF study, which involved the surgical implantation of a port for infusions of GDNF directly into the brain of Parkinson’s patients, bypassing the blood-brain barrier. Ms. Gosden is one of those who experienced an enormous benefit from the GDNF: prior to her involvement in the trial, she was wheelchair bound. Afterwards, she could walk again. [...]

Read More
Feb 2020By |0 Comments

When It Comes to Clinical Trials, Patient Concerns Differ

When It Comes to Clinical Trials, Patient Concerns Differ By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH In 2019, Inspire researched patients and caregivers feelings about, and understanding of, clinical trials. Over 1500 members (1644) participated: Members with arthritis, colorectal cancer, prostate cancer, psoriasis, ovarian cancer, sarcoidosis and scleroderma. The findings show that these groups have different understandings of and concerns about clinical trials. Sixteen percent of the participants had already participated in clinical trials. Another 15 percent had tried to participate in a clinical trial but 1) were not eligible, 2) the clinical trial was full or 3) [...]

Read More
Feb 2020By |0 Comments

Suffering Through the Opioid Crisis: The Language of Chronic Pain

Suffering Through the Opioid Crisis: The Language of Chronic Pain By Claire Harter, MA Market researchers in the pharmaceutical industry need to know their audience - their unmet needs, language, and experiences. Recent research in chronic pain at Inspire reveals the lexicon of chronic pain patients and their experiences with treatment. Pain Management History Documented widespread under-treatment of pain was a major medical health problem prior to the year 2000. The World Health Organization’s Cancer Pain Monograph detailed poor pain management of cancer and post-operative patients in 1986. Multiple publications throughout the 1990s on inadequate assessment [...]

Read More
Feb 2020By |1 Comment

Participation is Personal: Community Outreach Impacts Clinical Trial Diversity

Participation is Personal: Community Outreach Impacts Clinical Trial Diversity By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH Despite FDA policy initiatives over the last few decades, certain groups continue to be unnecessarily underrepresented in many clinical trials.1 The Yale Center for Clinical Investigation (YCCI) at the Yale School of Medicine is tackling this problem with local resources. Since its inception in 2005, part of YCCI’s mission has been to: “...Strengthen the infrastructure that connects clinical research teams with practitioners, community health clinics, and community stakeholders throughout Connecticut, reaching out in particular to diverse populations including children, women, the elderly, [...]

Read More
Jan 2020By |0 Comments

Inspire’s MS Community Overcomes Patient Isolation with Peer-to-Peer Support and Experience

Inspire’s MS Community Overcomes Patient Isolation with Peer-to-Peer Support and Experience By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH Over 15,000 members of Inspire have interest in, searched for, or have posted about multiple sclerosis (MS). Members have written over 4000 posts and more than 2000 searches have been conducted on MS. Pharmaceutical marketers wonder if patients discuss medications with each other online. The answer is a definitive yes. Patients also discuss what they learned online about treatments with their health care provider. It is not unusual for members to reach out after just being diagnosed. “I was just [...]

Read More
Jan 2020By |0 Comments

What Touchpoints Influence Drug Compliance for Chronic Illnesses?

What Touchpoints Influence Drug Compliance for Chronic Illnesses? By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH Recent marketing research from Google shows that it takes 50-500 touchpoints to influence a purchase decision. While the study focused on common non-medical purchases (headphones, airline flights, beauty products, and candy), the authors point out an important shift in the concept of marketing touchpoints: Today, people are no longer following a linear path from awareness to consideration to purchase. They are narrowing and broadening their consideration set in unique and unpredictable moments. In fact, the authors of a study titled “Chronic Illness Medication [...]

Read More
Jan 2020By |0 Comments

No “One Size Fits All” Solution to Improve Clinical Trial Participation

No "One Size Fits All"Solution to Improve Clinical Trial Participation By Kathleen Hoffman, PhD, MSPH Clinical trial study designers are trying to find ways to increase participation and reduce dropout. According to three recent studies, the reasons patients give for not participating in clinical trials vary depending on a number of factors including the condition being studied, the gender or age of participants, and even minority status. Accommodating these differing needs in the study design would support enrollment and sustain participation, but it requires asking prospective participants what would lower the barriers for their specific condition [...]

Read More
Jan 2020By |0 Comments

Where Can I Get This ‘Real World Data’ You Speak Of?

Where Can I Get This ‘Real World Data’ You Speak Of? By Robert Gardner How far has the importance of Real World Evidence advanced as part of treatment development? When the attendees of a recent eyeforpharma webinar were asked, “Are you, or will you soon be using RWE for enabling new types of value or outcomes-based assessment within your own firm?” 35 percent responded that they already consider RWE “a universal and necessary standard,” with another 26 percent saying RWE is or will be used as evidence in developing “specialty and high-priced treatments.” A “universal and [...]

Read More
Dec 2019By |0 Comments
Copyright 2023 Inspire | All Rights Reserved