Patient registries, sometimes called patient databases, are a useful tool in any clinical trial patient recruitment strategy. They help researchers identify potential study participants who meet trial eligibility requirements and have already expressed willingness to participate in research. In addition, they assist with ensuring that the patient pool is representative of the population being studied.
Clinical trials play a critical role in developing new treatments and therapies for Parkinson's disease, an age-related degenerative brain condition that causes slowed movements, tremors, balance problems, and more. Parkinson's disease affects more than 10 million people worldwide, and its prevalence is expected to continue to rise as the population ages. However, with some treatment options currently approved and many trials looking for newly diagnosed or treatment-naive patients, recruiting patients for these trials is difficult because many protocols require treatment-naive or newly diagnosed patients.
This webinar, hosted by Sano Genetics Partnership Lead Lindsey Wahlstrom-Edwards and featuring representatives from COUCH Health, Lupus Research Alliance, and Acclinate, highlighted the importance of equitable access as well as community and patient engagement in precision medicine. The discussion centered on various user research topics and methods, including how to evaluate user feedback effectively and the importance of understanding user needs.
Choosing a CRO partner affects every phase of a clinical trial. A mismatch in therapeutic expertise, regulatory experience, or service scope can introduce delays, data quality issues, and compliance gaps that are difficult to correct once a trial is underway. Understanding what to look for before selecting a CRO helps sponsors reduce these risks and build a partnership aligned with their study objectives.
In this episode of "The Genetics Podcast," host Patrick Short interviews Daniel McArthur, Director of the Centre for Population Genomics at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and the Murdoch Children's Research Institute. The discussion focused on the impact of large-scale genetic datasets on patient diagnosis and treating genetic subtypes of disease, and the power of big data and consortiums to enable pioneering discoveries.
Over the past year, Sano and BenevolentAI have collaborated to demonstrate how an integrated, decentralized platform — combining patient recruitment, at-home genetic testing, electronic consent, and medical record retrieval — can generate a linked genetic and clinical dataset at scale for a genetically complex indication such as ulcerative colitis (UC). The project was partly funded by the UK government's innovation agency grant.
In a this webinar, Patrick Short, CEO and co-founder of Sano Genetics, and Patti Engel, CEO of Engage Health, discussed how applying a “rare disease mindset” can accelerate and de-risk precision medicine research. The discussion focused on a case study of a precision medicine trial in movement disorders, particularly Parkinson's disease, where they successfully identified patients with rare genetic variants of interest.
Recruiting patients for clinical trials is a crucial component of the drug development process, and a key factor in determining the success or failure of a study. However, finding the right patients is challenging, and many trial sponsors and clinical research organisations (CROs) turn to clinical trial patient recruitment companies and site databases to help identify and enrol suitable candidates. Of course, these resources can be helpful, but for certain types of trials, there are challenges associated with relying on them. In particular, trials looking for patients with particular biomarkers may be too specific to rely on a traditional patient recruitment company or a site database. In this blog, we review these challenges and alternative methods which may address them.
National DNA Day, observed on April 25th, commemorates the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA. It’s an annual, global celebration – and this year, it marks both the 20th anniversary of the Human Genome Project’s completion and the 70th anniversary of the discovery of the DNA double helix. National DNA Day is a day to reflect on the importance of genetics and DNA research in our lives, including the impact it has had on healthcare.
Earlier this month, our team had the pleasure of attending the CMO Summit 360 in Boston. This event brought together top-level medical executives and experts from the biotech industry to discuss the latest trends and innovations in clinical decision making, regulatory strategy, communications, business development, and more. Sano sponsored a table at the event, and was excited to chat with and learn from both attendees and speakers. In this blog, we outline three key themes that emerged throughout the event: understanding the patient, engaging patient advocacy groups (PAGs), and driving diversity in medical research.