TrialJourney tops SCOPE 2020 Participant Engagement Awards

Finalists in this year’s Participant Engagement Awards presented their ideas Tuesday night, as part of the pre-conference activities at SCOPE 2020. The awards are geared toward encouraging innovation in how clinical trial managers communicate with potential participants and patients.

Representatives from sites, clinical research organizations (CROs), e-patient advisors, sponsors and others submitted their ideas for consideration. A panel of judges weighed the submissions, the 2020 finalists outlined their novel concepts in two-minute presentations, and attendees weighed in via app.

Irfan Khan, CEO of Circuit Clinical, presented on the company’s clinical trial engagement tool, TrialJourney​ (formerly TrialScout), which enables potential participants to search trials and review ratings shared by other patients.

The tool and its #FindtheFive social media campaign won for its novel pursuit of engagement with the more than 5 million Americans who have participated in clinical trials in the past decade.

Khan said TrialJourney and the campaign have proven powerful in boosting patient participation by giving the people a voice.

“Doctors and nurses alone are not going to solve this problem,”​ he said.

Improved patient experience​

Amanda Wright, co-founder and VP of partnership development at Javara, discussed the concept of a Clinical Trial Navigator (CTN), a position designed to break down barriers, improve access for participants and avoid inefficient or redundant data collection.

Wright explained the role would serve as a ‘conduit’ between clinical research and clinical care teams, in part serving to improve accuracy and efficiency for a better patient experience. One problem the role could help avoid, Wright said, is unnecessarily putting participants through unpleasant tests twice.

“No one wants to have a colonoscopy twice, just because we didn’t do a good job communicating data,”​ she said.

Helpful trial resources​

Lindsey Riley, senior associate at the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, detailed resources the organization provides to facilitate improved clinical trial experience and results. These include the Fox Trial Finder​, an online clinical trial recruitment tool, and downloadable guides such as, Navigating Clinical Trials​.

Riley said such tools can be powerful in informing potential recruitments about clinical trials.

“Education can support action and engagement,”​ she said.

The program is presented in honor of Jerry Matczak, lead consultant in clinical innovation at Eli Lilly, who died shortly after receiving the award himself in 2017.