WILMINGTON, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Pharmaceutical Product Development, LLC (PPD), a global contract research organization, and Acurian, the leading full-service provider of global patient enrollment and retention solutions and a subsidiary of PPD, today announced a new patient concierge service designed to make it easier for patients and their caregivers to participate in clinical trials and to help pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients retain patients.
“We’re introducing this innovative concierge service to help patients navigate the complexity of clinical trials, while providing support designed to enable them to better understand trials and the trial process, participation logistics and technologies,” said Niklas Morton, senior vice president of site and patient access for PPD. “Our patient-centric service focuses on providing proactive trial guidance and an improved patient experience for individuals seeking life-changing treatments. This new service directly places the patient at the forefront of how we approach a trial.”
The patient concierge service, initiated by PPD’s Rare Disease and Pediatric Center of Excellence, can be utilized in a wide variety of studies across all phases, therapeutic areas and indications. The company plans to introduce other concierge services and capabilities to investigative sites and PPD® Laboratories later in 2018.
The patient concierge serves as a single point of contact to proactively guide a patient through trial participation and manage trial logistics. Concierges are assigned to patients for the duration of a study and check in with them regularly. That ongoing interaction helps to build a one-to-one relationship, enabling a concierge to better assess and address patient motivation, satisfaction and other non-medical issues, while facilitating services aimed at retaining the patient in the trial. Some of the specific amenities the patient concierge provides include: appointment reminders and follow-ups; trial experience feedback; trial information; device training and assistance; transportation and reimbursement support; and medication reminders.
While the patient concierge service can be utilized with a wide range of studies, the level of support provided by the service is extremely valuable in therapeutic areas in which the patients and their caregivers are navigating especially challenging trial logistics or in which complex travel arrangements to sites must be made. For example, this offering can be particularly beneficial with rare diseases because caregivers often have to play an expanded role, coordinating a wider range of complicated logistics. Because retaining patients in trials involving rare diseases is so important due to the small patient populations involved, PPD and Acurian announced the patient concierge service on Rare Disease Day, observed annually on the last day of February.
“The patient concierge service will encourage greater patient engagement and retention, while helping to decrease a site’s administrative responsibilities, with the goal of expediting trial timelines, enhancing site relationships and, ultimately, reducing costs,” said Roger Smith, senior vice president and general manager of Acurian. “With less time spent by site staff and study coordinators on the tasks handled by the patient concierge, more of their time can be devoted to patient care and completing the trial within expected timeframes. This also contributes to patients feeling valued when participating in a trial, as we seek to increase their overall satisfaction and interest in continuing.”
About PPD
PPD is a leading global contract research organization providing comprehensive, integrated drug development, laboratory and lifecycle management services. Our clients and partners include pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, academic and government organizations. With offices in 47 countries and approximately 20,000 professionals worldwide, PPD applies innovative technologies, therapeutic expertise and a firm commitment to quality to help clients and partners bend the cost and time curve of drug development and optimize value in delivering life-changing therapies to improve health. For more information, visit www.ppdi.com.
About Acurian
Acurian, a subsidiary of PPD, is a leading full-service provider of clinical trial patient enrollment and retention solutions for the life sciences industry. The company increases the enrollment performance of investigator sites worldwide by identifying, contacting, prescreening and referring people who live in the local community but are unknown to a research site. As a result, trial sponsors complete enrollment without incurring the unexpected expense of adding sites or time. For more information, visit www.acurian.com.
