WCG tapped for Fox Trial Finder upgrade

12-Mar-2020 - Last updated on 12-Mar-2020 at 15:22 GMT

(Image: Pornpak Khunatorn)

The Michael J. Fox Foundation has picked the WCG CenterWatch iConnect patient recruitment platform to power its revamped clinical study matching tool.

The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) has launched a redesigned version of Fox Trial Finder, a web-based matchmaker that connects trials with both patients living with Parkinson’s disease, and healthy volunteers. Incorporating the iConnect platform is intended to streamline the process of finding and recruiting trial participants.

Lisa LaLuna, senior vice president patient advocacy at WCG, told Outsourcing-Pharma the upgrades to the Fox Trial Finder ultimately will benefit trial participants and sponsors alike.

“The new changes to Fox Trial Finder will benefit patients and their families by connecting patients to appropriate clinical trials, by leveraging advanced features and functionality. They also provide added value to the pharmaceutical companies conducting those trials,” she said. “Now pharmaceutical companies can track patient recruitment tactic performance and ROI across multiple vendors and sites helping to optimize and accelerate recruitment campaigns.”

Sohini Chowdhury, deputy CEO at the MJFF, said connecting the millions of Parkinson’s patients with trials and other opportunities to advance treatments requires a concerted effort.

“With 85% of trials facing delays and 30% never getting off the ground due to a lack of volunteers, the new Fox Trial Finder will reduce the burden of clinical trial recruitment by connecting patients and families to trials that urgently need them,” she said.

Donald Deieso, executive chairman and CEO of WCG, said using iConnect to redesign the Fox Trial Finder will help make it easier for the foundation to accelerate research and get safe, effective treatments to Parkinson’s patients.

“MJFF’s decision to redesign its new Fox Trial Finder on our iConnect platform will make clinical research much more accessible and easier to navigate for patients and their families,” he said.

According to the company, CenterWatch iConnect is accessed by more than 250,000 unique users monthly. These visitors are seeking information about clinical trials for themselves or family members.