Goldmine for Recruitment?

A recent article in FierceBiotech IT detailed the emergence of a new patient recruiting service co-developed by Pfizer and Private Access. Allegedly this service will allow potential trial participants to log on to a website (presumably) and upload their health information to be made available to participating clinical investigators and physicians. Participants could also then restrict the amount of information available as well as to whom the information is provided (good for the patient in terms of privacy). Where this behooves the researcher is that an investigator would be able to only see the information of those who either seem to meet a study's criteria initially or are interested in a particular trial. But let's dig a little deeper, shall we?

The article goes on to say that most people don't participate in clinical trials because they either aren't aware the studies are going on or they can't find one for which they may be eligible. I agree with this statement. There are clinical trial search engines available today like centerwatch.com, clinicaltrials.gov, and clinicalconnection.com; but not enough people know about them to make them wildly successful. THAT is what Pfizer and Private Access need to take into account when developing this program.

I think the first step is to get the word out to clinicians who are not participating in trials to encourage their patients to sign up for this service or using Pfizer's vast financial resources to run marketing campaigns to get the ball rolling. Part B of the first step is to ensure patients that this information is indeed confidential because the whole idea of being able to access your protected health information from any computer and your PHI sitting out there in the clouds is a bit intimidating to most. The second step would be to prove that this service actually does what is supposed to do. It would have to be successful in hitting underrepresented populations of study participants, which is another problem with clinical trial recruitment as it stands today. The final step is showing that even though the service is developed by Pfizer, the service would not benefit Pfizer any more than it would benefit any other pharmaceutical developer. People generally have a bad taste in their mouths about profiteering in the world of Big Pharma and although Pfizer could potentially benefit greatly from this service, they would be better suited to open it up to any investigator participating in any trial.

Generally I think this product is a step in the right direction if implemented properly, and the ball lies in the court of the developer to make it happen.

Here's the article from FierceBiotech IT, FYI: (http://www.fiercebiotech.com/press-releases/pfizer-and-private-access-announce-plans-develop-online-community-accelerate-clinic-0)