Greenphire introduces new tech for patient communities and expands deal with Merck
The company says its technology has been designed to ‘help foundations more effectively engage and support patient communities.’
The latest tech, the patient-powered registry, it says was introduced at a time when ‘foundations and advocacy organizations are seeking to gather insights from patients to drive research and are accelerating their use of digital technology to meet that need’.
The mobile and web-based registry will allow disease-specific organizations to communicate with members – delivering patient insights such as condition-specific health information, employing interactive tools such as virtual surveys, and connecting and matching members with clinical trials they may be interested in.
The company believes the foundations can create and manage registry content quickly and easily’, streamlining operations and improving analytics to enhance patient support and provide value-added data to key stakeholders such as their boards of directors.
"Greenphire is committed to modernizing and integrating each step in the participant journey, leveraging our powerful mobile enabled technology platform to create a personalized and empowering end-to-end participant experience," said Jim Murphy, CEO of Greenphire.
For patients, the company says, the patient-powered registry allows them to receive trusted information on their disease, enables them to join others with the same diagnosis in driving research, and provides the flexibility to share information, such as treatments they are participating in and symptoms, in real-time.
"An app should not be cumbersome or difficult to use, but engaging and useful for patients. They have enough to deal with as they navigate life and their disease," said Clay Williams, vice president of Mobile Applications at Greenphire.
"We heard what advocacy organizations needed and we built technology to address it. This registry makes it easier for them to engage with patients, leading to more meaningful data that can be used for research purposes and to make patients' lives better."
The patient-powered registry allows foundations to become even more valuable partners to sponsors by providing foundations with a powerful tool to facilitate connections between sponsors and participants in clinical trials. In addition, it allows them to more easily identify potential participants based on their medical history, geographic location, and other criteria. It also helps keep patients engaged throughout the trial by providing real-time updates on progress and results from an interactive and helpful app.
"The Patient-Powered Registry has been a powerful resource for the Alliance, our members and people living with metastatic breast cancer," said Laurie Campbell, Executive Director of the Metastatic Breast Cancer Alliance. "Smaller organizations are not equipped with the staff and finances to build an in-house solution for connecting with patients. This registry is an efficient resource that is easy to use and enables us to truly dedicate our time and resources toward our mission of transforming and improving the lives of people living with metastatic breast cancer. Additionally, the registry reduces the burden on patients by pushing out helpful, relevant information, including insights and potential matches to clinical trials."
The company has also just announced an expansion of its agreement with Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada.
This expanded agreement now includes the use of Greenphire's ClinCard with rideshare integration for participants across Merck's clinical development network.
"We are proud to expand this agreement with Merck to address participant obstacles across the company's global clinical trial network," Murphy said.
He said time, travel and out-of-pocket costs have consistently been cited as obstacles to clinical trial recruitment and retention.
He also explained that recent research from Tufts University identified that the top two enhancements to increase patient participation in clinical trials were expense reimbursement and transportation assistance. He says Greenphire's ClinCard with rideshare integration is designed to help alleviate financial and logistical burdens on participants.
“We are pleased to expand our agreement with Greenphire based upon our shared commitment to streamlining and improving the clinical trial experience for participants," said Kelly White, of Merck Research Laboratories.
“Merck is dedicated to enrolling people in our clinical trials that appropriately reflect the patients we serve.”
ClinCard does not impose costs on sites and helps ensure patients are reimbursed quickly so research sites can focus on the important work of conducting clinical trials.
