Japan's CROee to Establish US-based Clinical Trial Recruitment Company with BBK Worldwide

SAN DIEGO and BOSTON, June 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- DIA 2014 50th Annual Meeting -- BBK Worldwide, a leading clinical trial marketing firm, and CROee, the first consulting Japanese CRO specializing in patient recruitment, today announced the creation of a jointly-owned US-based company, BBK + CROee. Collaborators since 2010, the new partners formed the entity to provide the cultural and marketing expertise necessary to engage the Japanese pharmaceutical industry and, in turn, to support global pharma in its quest for drug approvals in Japan, the second largest pharmaceutical marketplace in the world next to the US.

Executives from both companies will be on hand to discuss the new entity and what it means for their respective businesses and markets at this week's DIA 2014 50^th Annual Meeting at the San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, Calif., June 16-19 at BBK booth #2309. CROee's Daisuke Maki and Takateru Inokawa will serve as Directors, along with BBK's Founding Principal Bonnie A. Brescia and Director Steven Fleishman. Kiyoshi Aoyagi has been named President and will lead all US-based CROee initiatives. BBK + CROee will hire sales and marketing support in the near term to support growth.

Both companies have been collaborating on multinational patient recruitment and retention campaigns as part of the Patient Recruitment Global Alliance – a network of partner organizations founded and managed by BBK. Leveraging the successes achieved through that collaboration, BBK and CROee have developed an integrated technological infrastructure that supports proactive contingency action planning through access to real-time recruitment data tracking and management, while at the same time provides critical interfaces for referral management and enrollment reporting for Japanese-speaking audiences.

The first fully integrated product offering combines BBK's robust TrialCentralNet^SM (TCN^®) recruitment platform with CROee's iPass system. The cornerstone of every campaign, TCN streamlines, organizes and provides on-demand analysis of all recruitment and retention data, processes and activities. The combination of TCN and iPass offers the ideal system for referral tracking and reporting, all in a powerful but intuitive, user-friendly portal. The fully integrated system will be available in late June, with additional integrations to be available by the end of the year.

"BBK's leadership in global patient recruitment and engagement services will continue to be complemented by CROee's operational and local expertise, and integrating TCN and iPass was a natural extension of our work together," said Kiyoshi Aoyagi , President, BBK + CROee. "We look forward to broadening our reach here in the US, and to working with BBK in this new capacity to help pharmaceutical and biotech companies conduct more efficient clinical research worldwide."

"CROee has long shared our commitment to ensuring that all teams within drug development have seamless access to the enrollment data and metrics they need to drive efficiencies – so working with their team in this way is an exciting step toward that end," said Bonnie A. Brescia, BBK's Founding Principal. "Together, we bring BBK's unmatched recruitment technology and services and CROee's leading patient referral products and regional insight to allow key study stakeholders and clinical teams to identify the right patients, monitor and assess enrollment progress, and then adjust programs accordingly and optimally. We're excited for the future and for our mutual successes."

One System, Many Benefits

• Strong, flexible infrastructure – The new system provides a strong, yet flexible technological infrastructure to support key study stakeholders specific to their program roles, protect planning and implementation timeframes, and supply the essential enrollment analysis tools and reporting that allows clinical teams to monitor and assess referral progress and adjust outreach programs accordingly.
• Multi-lingual interface – Addressing the need to more fully integrate Japanese sites with global studies, the new system offers interfaces to accommodate Japanese- and English-speaking audiences
• Secure access – Adhering to the highest security standards, Japanese patient data is entered into the iPass system, and then passed securely to the appropriate trial sites.

Members of the media and analyst communities interested in meeting with BBK Worldwide or CROee at the DIA Annual Meeting should contact Juli Greenwood at 617-515-8412 or [email protected].

About the Patient Recruitment Global Alliance
The Patient Recruitment Global Alliance is comprised of vetted, trained, and the most experienced clinical trial communications and technology companies in the world, and provides clinical research professionals with unparalleled patient recruitment and retention solutions uniquely suited to meet the demands of today's complex multinational enrollment challenges. Established more than a decade ago, the Alliance includes partner companies that serve as regional hub leaders, as well as member firms offering functional- or country-specific resources. Partners include Jsure Health, Southern Star Research (SSR) and QuoMedic. For more information visit: http://shop.bbkworldwide.com/pages/patient-recruitment-global-alliance.

About CROee
Based in Tokyo, Japan, CROee is a CRO specializing in patient recruitment that helps pharmaceutical companies and other clients plan optimized solutions for clinical trials. For more information, visit: www.croee.com.

About BBK Worldwide
With more than three decades of experience across a wide variety of therapies and medicines, BBK Worldwide is the global leader in patient recruitment for the clinical trial industry. BBK's latest innovation is the introduction of adaptive recruitment – a new specialty in clinical trial marketing proven to protect global enrollment integrity, specifically within a changing or threatened landscape. BBK is a privately held, women owned business, headquartered in Needham, Mass. For more information, visit: www.bbkworldwide.com.

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SOURCE BBK Worldwide