Alzheimer's Team Tops 100,000 Facebook 'Likes'

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., Sept. 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Alzheimer's Team, the online Facebook community dedicated to advancing new Alzheimer's treatments through clinical trials reached 100,000 Facebook 'Likes' this week, marking a great start to Alzheimer's Awareness month in the US.  Alzheimer's Team Facebook page (www.facebook.com/AlzheimersTeam) serves up the latest news, allows the audience to interact, and fosters a greater understanding of the clinical trials process.

"Over the past year, we've continued to experiment within the Facebook space and listen to what the caregivers of Alzheimer's patients want," said Liz Moench, MediciGlobal's President and CEO. "The result is a robust, engaged community that is consuming and sharing experiences, photos, tips and the quest for knowledge."

MediciGlobal is a company dedicated to informing patients and their families about clinical research opportunities.  Along with Access to Patients, their digital marketing subsidiary, Medici administrates the Alzheimer's Team page as well as Facebook pages for a range of other medical conditions. Epilepsy, lupus, gout, endometriosis, interstitial cystitis, constipation, and celiac disease are among the areas Medici holds strong community support within.  All told, MediciGlobal has over half a million Facebook 'likes' across its pages.

Debuting on Facebook in March 2012, Alzheimer's Team and MediciGlobal have pioneered the social space for building clinical trial awareness. Patient and caregiver feedback has helped shape the online content shared on their page, keeping Alzheimer's Team consistently relevant to its fans. Medici's other online communities, which include their largest community in Epilepsy Team (260,000 fans) were among the first to debut Facebook Timeline for clinical trials in early 2012.  

The Facebook platform is a key component in MediciGlobal's digital cross-media portfolio, which also includes Pinterest, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, and YouTube. Alzheimer's Team posts reached more than 25,000 people virally on each month for the past year.

Since 2011, for all Medici supported clinical trials, more than 90% of patients came from online sources, including large health networks, search engines and social media platforms like Facebook. According to Nick Halkitis, MediciGlobal's Vice President of Access To Patients, the company has been leveraging online referral generation for years. "The difference is that today we have even more options and tools available to us in connecting with patients, and our online patient communities are a vital component of our online outreach."

"We are the first Facebook community to inform people about the role of Tau tangles in Alzheimer's disease, and the development of the first Tau Aggregation Inhibitor (TAI)," said  Moench. "Even though the tangles in the brain were first reported by Dr. Alois Alzheimer in 1907¹, few people are aware of the century-long journey that has been undertaken to understand the pathology leading to their formation, their role in dementia, and, ultimately, potentially stopping their spread through the brain to cause advanced Alzheimer's."

"Alzheimer's patients and their caregivers are eager to find an effective treatment that can actually arrest the progression of the disease, since no such treatment is currently available today," adds Moench. "Our Facebook page is encouraging people to learn more about the emerging science about Alzheimer's including the role of the Tau tangles in Alzheimer's." According to Moench, Alzheimer's Team is playing an important role in sharing new research opportunities among the Alzheimer's community. The page has informed members about one such clinical trial that could provide the first definitive data on a disease-modifying and preventative treatment of Alzheimer's, supported by TauRx Therapeutics. A video link from Alzheimer's Team to TauRx Therapeutics' website informs visitors that a 90% reduction in the rate of disease progression was achieved in its Phase 2 clinical trial over a two year period, and that a Phase 3 clinical trial involving 1330 patients in 21 countries is now getting underway.² Patients and caregivers are invited to sign up for study updates on the study website at www.AlzheimersStudies.com. 

Currently, visitors to the Facebook page number more than two million weekly. Importantly, these visitors show a strong international makeup, spanning more than 20 countries including the United States, Brazil, Italy, Spain, Canada, the UK and many more.  The page's growth can only go further towards achieving the Alzheimer's Team's ultimate goal of finding a cure for Alzheimer's.

About MediciGlobal:

MediciGlobal is a leading full-service provider of clinical trial patient recruitment and retention solutions for the life sciences industry. Through its proprietary online patient communities, digital advertising capabilities, and a fully hosted enrollment management technology platform, MediciGlobal connects, prescreens, and refers patients and or their caregivers into clinical trials, all while supporting clinical research centers with services to optimize the support of every referred patient. The company also makes certain that those who participate in clinical trials fully understand what clinical trial participation means, and that their participation is guarded by strict privacy policies. MediciGlobal meets BBB OnLine® and WBENC accreditation standards and is certified as a Safe Harbor company. Visit www.mediciglobal.com to learn more. 

References:

1. Alzheimer A. On a peculiar disease of the cerebral cortex. Allgemeine Zeitschrift fur Psychiatrie und Psychisch-Geritlich Medicin 1907;64:146-148.
2. Wischik CM, Bentham P, Wischik DJ, Seng KM. Tau aggregation inhibitor (TAI) therapy with rember™ arrests disease progression in mild and moderate Alzheimer's disease over 50 weeks. Alzheimer's and Dementia 2008;4:T167. Abstract available at: http://www.alzheimersanddementia.com/article/S1552-5260(08)00598-0/fulltext. Accessed October 2012.

SOURCE MediciGlobal