Bringing Trials to the People

Bridge the gaps between people and clinical trials. That’s what Quintiles hopes to do with its recently launched Web site clinicalresearch.com.

“Only 8% to 10% of the world population has ever been approached about doing clinical research, and yet everybody has disease,” says Dave Coman, Senior Vice President of Patient Recruitment and Communication at the company.

Although it’s way too soon to claim victory, the week-old Web site has received positive feedback from its target audience. Thankful patients have sent emails of appreciation, including one family member of an Alzheimer’s patient desperate to find nearby opportunities for hope in the form of clinical trials.

Think of the site as a patient-friendly and patient-centric version of clinicaltrials.gov, which is from where its data is pulled [the company is looking at additional registries to include data from, such as PhRMA’s]. But other than the trial data and search function—by condition and location—both sites share nothing in common.

Quintiles successfully spruces up and expands the trial search so that visitors can look for studies by phase, type of treatment (drug, device, behavioral), and age. A Google map accompanies search-result findings and reflects the location of each study site. But that’s not all. There’s also opportunities to find out more about clinical research, the site’s overall goal. 

“There are a lot of questions, concerns, and speculation around what is done in the realm of research,” says Coman. “Our objective was to demystify the process…We really wanted to try to increase patient awareness, understanding, and ultimately participation in clinical research.”

The site doesn’t just demystify the clinical research process for patients though. There’s a section for physicians new to clinical research that explains the role of investigators. In addition to providing outside links to other available resources like ModernMedicine and CenterWatch, Quintiles has created a six-minute video, “Why Become a Clinical Investigator.”

There’s other short videos for patients and caregivers where former trial participants share their own experiences on what it was like to be a part of a study. And in the coming months, Quintiles expects to include monthly Webinars hosted by MDs that will highlight a different disease every month.

If you’re reading this blog, you’re likely very familiar with clinical research. Even so, it’s worth the time to take a peek around the site and see what it has to offer.