With the continuous deepening of Internet technology in the clinical research industry, the recruitment of digital patients is unstoppable. With the empowerment of technology, taking patients as the center and recruiting patients with warmth has become the new vision of the industry.

On April 16, 2021, at the 2nd DIA China Digital Clinical Trial Innovation Forum (dTrial Forum), Xie Yang, co-founder of Pharmaceutical Research Institute, delivered a keynote speech on “Patient Recruitment Based on Digital Platform” , The in-depth interpretation platform helps maximize the value of patients, and shares the innovative practice of the patient recruitment scenario of the Pharmaceutical Research Institute.

Take the patient as the center and maximize the value of patients

Xie Yang said that in the recognition of the Pharmaceutical Research Institute, although patient recruitment is a commercial activity, its value is first to help enrolled patients find new treatment opportunities, and the acceleration of enrollment will help new drugs go on the market faster and benefit more. Many patients. Taking the benefit of patients as the center, this is the original intention and social value that the Pharmaceutical Research Institute has always upheld in the field of patient recruitment.

Patient recruitment from the conventional business perspective is often based on a single clinical trial project. Patients are found around the project, and a large part of the patients will be eliminated at the same time, which makes it difficult to achieve universal benefits. The core logic of the drug research agency’s patient recruitment based on a digital platform is to connect a large number of patient resources with a large number of clinical trial projects across the country through the platform, and to maximize the value of patients as the core to match patients with suitable projects as much as possible. The Pharmaceutical Research Institute creates a structured portrait for each registered patient. Even if the patient does not match the current project registered, the system will continue to update the algorithm and data to help it match other suitable trials, so as to achieve the highest patient Match rate.

People-oriented, improve patient reach, benefit and experience‍

Although many digital methods are used for patient recruitment today, what we must not forget is that patients are “people” and enrollment is the will of people. Therefore, our recruitment process must be people-oriented, so that patients have the enthusiasm to participate in clinical trials, and personally feel the improvement of their own health and life by clinical trials. The Pharmaceutical Research Institute started from the three aspects of “reach, benefit, and experience” to create a warm patient recruitment service in an all-round way.

First of all, in terms of patient access, the Pharmaceutical Research Institute uses multiple channels such as online media, patient organizations, WeChat official account traffic, and in-hospital entrances, and strategically cooperates with Alipay to allow those interested in participating in clinical trials through Alipay’s large-flow portal. It is easier and faster for patients to find suitable clinical trial projects. After the patients sign up, the background system will conduct a preliminary screening and push the eligible patients to the researcher’s WeChat applet. After the patients have signed the informed consent form, they can be successfully enrolled in the group.

In terms of patient benefit, enrollment in clinical trials is just the beginning. Only by enabling patients to obtain a humanized and personalized treatment experience and ensuring patient compliance can the maximum benefit of patients in clinical trials be realized. Recently, the Pharmaceutical Research Institute released the industry’s first full-scene patient comprehensive management solution “Health Secretary” APP. In addition to patient recruitment, it covers patient management, patient education, and final report functions. According to the trial plan, a process-based medication and follow-up plan is generated for patients to make patient management more efficient; customized patient education content to enable patients to live a healthy life; remote collection of patient data to optimize the end of electronic reporting.

In terms of patient experience, the digital tools of the Pharmaceutical Research Institute have also made many humane and thoughtful designs. For example, after patients sign up for the trial, they can track the progress of the registration on the Health Secretary APP, the whole process is clear and transparent; the trial introduction uses structured data and popular information to lower the threshold for patient understanding and participation in the trial; guide patients to the hospital to participate in the trial Group screening, signed informed consent, etc.

The patient recruitment scene is integrated into the digital platform to achieve a win-win situation for multiple parties

As an innovative CRO technology platform, the Pharmaceutical Research Institute connects sponsors, hospitals/institutions, researchers, patients, and practitioners (ie, the “two ends of the three”). From the perspective of the platform, the significance of digital patient recruitment lies in opening up the multi-party collaboration among the five parties, allowing patients to have better, faster, and more precise ways of contacting related ports, and on the one hand, patients can participate more effectively. In clinical trials, on the other hand, it helps sponsors, institutions, and hospitals represented by other ports to achieve a win-win situation for all parties.

Specifically, for patients, not only can they obtain the latest treatment opportunities in real time, but also get the guidance of seamless connection between online and offline, and the participation experience is better. For the hospital side, recruitment is simplified and enrollment efficiency is improved; researchers can communicate with patients and collect data remotely through online tools, and the follow-up process is greatly simplified. For the sponsor side, massive patient resources can be quickly obtained, and research progress can be accelerated. Higher patient compliance is conducive to reducing trial costs and improving trial quality.

At the end of the speech, Xie Yang appealed: All roads lead to patients. In particular, patient recruitment requires multi-party division of labor and cooperation to jointly create a patient transformation chain.

Patient recruitment is an integral part of the digital platform of the Pharmaceutical Research Institute, and it is also a microcosm of the win-win cooperation of all parties under the platform strategy. Adhering to the concept of “patient-centered”, the Pharmaceutical Research Institute will continue to promote platform-based efficient linking and digital empowerment, promote multi-party collaboration, improve the efficiency of value exchange, and promote the development of the industry in a more efficient and warmer direction.

About Pharmaceutical Research Society

The Pharmaceutical Research Institute is a CRO technology platform focusing on providing innovative pharmaceutical R&D services for pharmaceutical companies. With talent innovation as the main body and data and technology as the driving force, the core strategy of “one body and two wings” establishes the standardization, process and digitization of pharmaceutical R&D services, and provides technological innovation solutions for partners. The business specifically covers one-stop services such as CRO, SMO, center quick start, patient recruitment, manpower assignment, and intelligent data services.

At the same time, the Pharmaceutical Research Institute uses the clinical research portal platform “Trial.Link” to connect hospitals/institutions, researchers, sponsors, practitioners, and patients and other clinical trial participants to achieve efficient business matching and high-quality integration of services. Give full play to the advantages of big data to provide precise navigation for all end collaborations, make medical research and development more efficient, and provide a better life for patients.