The ability of a contract research organization (CRO) to identify the right sites with suitable patients and to reliably achieve study enrollment goals can save Sponsors considerable costs. Ultimately, these efforts help to accelerate the possibility of effective treatments for patients.
From study planning, protocol development, and site selection to enrollment, retention, and follow-up, patients sit at the heart of our decision-making. This enables better access to potentially life-changing clinical studies and ensures Sponsors are meeting the real needs of the right target populations. Precision leverages proprietary systems and a carefully vetted selection of technology partners to support studies across their entire lifecycle.
A partner like PurpleLab can support from the earliest planning stages. For trials in the United States with strict selection criteria, PurpleLab leverages access to medical and pharmacy claims data that includes information on 200 million Americans. The data helps to identify patients with specific diagnostic and treatment codes. In-house analysis can inform and estimate eligible patient populations, identifying health care organizations with the greatest numbers of patients that meet specific inclusion and exclusion criteria.
For real-time feasibility for US-based oncology trials, Deep Lens leverages an artificial intelligence (A.I.) platform, called VIPER, to scan their Unity Network of community oncology practices. Patients are essentially pre-screened using protocol inclusion and exclusion criteria, electronic healthcare records, and available genomic data. Based on the results of Viper’s analysis, clinical research teams can then reach out to the identified sites within the Unity Network for study inclusion. This then leads to confirming patient eligibility and connecting with enrolling physicians or study sites.
Accessing data at the community site level allows rare and biomarker-defined patient populations to be identified, increasing accrual rates, reducing screening time, and supporting rapid site activation.
Assisting patient enrollment across the US and Europe is EHRconnect. This Precision platform provides detailed instructions to activated clinical trial sites based on study requirements, allowing for effective mining of electronic health record (EHR) data. This allows Precision teams to assist sites in identifying potentially appropriate clinical trial patients, supporting site feasibility and recruitment efforts. With an easy-to-use interface, each activated site is empowered to use its EHR system more effectively for patient identification.
By identifying KOLs working actively in target therapeutic areas or indications, KOL Data Solutions can support protocol development, clinical trial execution, and commercial discussions. Experts are scored and ranked using proprietary bibliometric software and expert research-based search strategies that account for geography, relevant literature, clinical trials, guidelines, congresses, associations, editorial board participation, social media presence, and more.
When researching your next CRO partner, consider the entirety of their capabilities, from in-house expertise to outside support. With the right tools and the right expertise, Sponsors can streamline the ways in which patients are identified to support on-time study start-ups.
Get in touch to learn how these technologies could support your next research project >
Andy Kinley, Ph.D. is Vice President of Innovation and Clinical Science at Precision for Medicine. He is a clinical researcher with over 25 years of combined experience leading basic and clinical research in oncology and hematology. His early scientific career focused on cancer cell signaling, setting a foundation to complement his clinical research roles in trial design and implementation of effective strategies for oncology clinical trials. Andy specializes in immuno-oncology trials (checkpoint inhibitors, T-cell agonists, bispecifics, cytokines, oncolytic viruses, neoantigen cancer vaccines), including autologous and allogeneic adoptive cell therapies (CAR-T, TCR, TIL, NK cells). Today, Andy identifies and implements innovative tools, datasets, and services that can impact clinical trial execution including quality, patient diversity, site identification, and trial timelines.
Precision for Medicine is part of the Precision Medicine Group, an integrated team of experts that extends Precision for Medicine’s therapeutic development capabilities beyond approval and into launch strategies, marketing communication, and payer insights. As one company, the Precision Medicine Group helps pharmaceutical and life-sciences clients conquer product development and commercialization challenges in a rapidly evolving environment.
