Patient Recruitment in Asia Biotech and Pharma Companies

PHILADELPHIA and LONDON, Sept. 18, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- It's a new era for biopharmaceutical companies. Competition for innovation, increasing clinical development costs, new technologies and a necessity to keep up with the fast-changing environment are important factors driving industry change. These factors also influence clinical trials, and clinical trial costs continue to rise due to a lack of effective patient recruitment.

Studies conducted by industry think tanks suggest each day of clinical trial setbacks results in increased costs for biopharmaceutical companies and higher prices and delayed access to promising medical treatments for patients.

Many biopharm companies entrust clinical trial sites to complete enrollment, or select a CRO to deliver all aspects of the study, including patient recruitment. In both scenarios, companies find themselves failing to meet recruitment timelines, driving up study costs and, as a result, having to explain these delays to investors.

"Today, investors and patients don't want to hear about delays due to lack of recruitment," says Liz Moench, President and Chief Executive Officer at MediciGroup® Inc., a leading global specialty patient-recruitment-retention firm. "Investors and senior management want to see recruitment by the numbers: real-time performance metrics based on accurate recruitment forecasting and cost-effective strategies that drive results."

As a speaker at the upcoming Allan Lloyds Patient Recruitment and Retention Summit Asia-Emerging Markets, taking place in Singapore, 23-25 September 2014, Moench will discuss steps that biopharmaceutical companies can take to expedite the recruitment process and manage recruitment by the numbers. Experienced in supporting venture-backed companies, Moench will also present examples of studies rescued by MediciGlobal, and examine the benefits of incorporating proactive recruitment planning and forecasting at the study start. In each case, the monetary value of delivering results to timelines will be presented.

Moench will also address the challenges biopharma companies face when it comes to patient recruitment.  These include:

1. LACK OF CONTROL: The uncertainty of recruitment timelines, getting a handle on rising costs caused by these delays.
2. TRADE-OFF DECISION MAKING: The cost of investing in patient recruitment proactively and the expected savings from patients delivered cost effectively.
3. EXPERT TALENT: As a small or mid-sized company, it can be difficult to access the best talent when they may be deployed to larger preferred clients by consulting CROs or other vendors.
4. LACK OF TRANSPARENCY: This can be especially problematic for recruitment when entrusted to study sites and/or others and patients do not materialize. Case studies will show the benefits of real-time metrics that track every aspect of the recruitment-retention process and the importance of providing control and transparency.
5. BUDGET: How much is enough to make a difference in patient recruitment? Forecasting for recruitment is protocol specific, and must account for the end-to-end process from patient identification to randomization.

About MediciGroup®
MediciGlobal d/b/a MediciGlobal is a leading full-service provider of clinical trial patient recruitment and retention solutions for the life sciences industry. Its L2FU division (Lost to Follow Up) specializes in locating missing patients to meet regulatory requirements for clinical trials.

Over the past 24 years, MediciGlobal has empowered millions of people with information about clinical trial opportunities that have resulted in new treatments for epilepsy, pain management, depression, anxiety, diabetes, breast and ovarian cancer, and many more. In recent years Medici has established more than 30 online patient communities to introduce research opportunities to people affected by these respective conditions, many of which are the largest with global participation. Medici created these destinations as places to learn about clinical research programs aimed to bring about new treatments and improve overall health.

Supporting biopharmaceutical companies in over 60 countries with patient-centric programs to accelerate clinical trial enrollment and retention, MediciGlobal meets BBB OnLine® and WBENC accreditation standards (Women-Owned Business) and is certified as a Safe Harbor company. Visit http://www.mediciglobal.com to learn more.

Please note that attendance at the Asia Conference requires pre-registration, and can be located here: http://www.patientrecruitmentasia.com/

About Allan Lloyds

Allan Lloyds is the world's leading provider of niche business conferences across the Banking, Pharma, Telecom, Retail and Energy industries. The Company believes in quality over quantity, and its conferences are tailored to fill the gaps in the market; through extensive research with, and direction from, Fortune 500 companies the Allan Lloyds team strives to ensure that its clients are provided with the business intelligence to drive their companies forward.

SOURCE MediciGroup