Pharma

Company developing social media platform for clinical trials

An East Coast software company is using Microsoft technology to develop a social media platform […]

An East Coast software company is using Microsoft technology to develop a social media platform that could help address the challenge of connecting patients and investigators with clinical trial sponsors.

NextDocs Corp., a King of Prussia, Pennsylvania-based  software company that provides Microsoft SharePoint-based compliance solutions to life sciences organizations, is in the early stages of developing a social media platform.

Speaking at the SharePoint “ShareFest” conference in Philadelphia, Jeffrey Burk, NextDocs vice president of product management, told MedCity News that the company wants to lay the groundwork for a network.

“We’re trying to build data points of success to incrementally move the debate forward. We do not need to boil the ocean today, but we need to figure out the steps along the way.”

Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued guidance on how pharmaceutical companies use social media, its murkiness has magnified the perception of the risk in overstepping it for many companies. Burk said if NextDocs can work with the thought leadership in the industry to develop a platform and prove its value, it could help government officials warm up to the concept.

“We can either wait as an industry to be told specifically what we have to do, or we can draw reasonable conclusions that are defensible and draw members of the industry that share that mindset,” Burk said.

Several websites compile details of clinical trials and the stages they are in, most notably ClinicalTrials.gov, but that information is generally in the hands of the pharmaceutical companies sponsoring the trials.

Social media offers an attractive way to connect clinical trial sponsors, investigators and patients — something no one has done yet.

Part of the idea is to provide greater involvement for patients so they can know when a clinical trial is recruiting and be a part of that process earlier. Currently, only about 14 percent of patients find out about clinical trials through their physicians, Burk said.  It would mean that if people have a family history that predisposes them to certain diseases, they wouldn’t have to react when their illness has already progressed. It could give them more control over their treatment options.

Having a pool of investigators to manage clinical trials would also make the process more efficient and potentially reduce the high cost of developing and implementing clinical trials.

Some companies have developed ways to make greater use of the Internet for clinical trials such as using virtual software in which participants are represented by avatars to improve interaction and maintain anonymity. Others have begun using telemedicine to make it easier for patients to participate. Pfizer had mixed results when it used social media to recruit patients for a clinical trial, according to an interview published on Pharmalot’s website.

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