Acurian Addresses Inverting the Traditional ClinicalTrial Recruitment Paradigm At Industry's...

Business Editors & Health/Medical Writers

eHealthcareWorld New York

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 4, 2000

Traditionally, pharmaceutical companies begin the time-consuming process of assembling clinical study participants by searching for and hiring physicians

to work as clinical investigators. The selected investigators are then left to their own devices to satisfy patient recruitment goals. Acurian, a holistic clinical study launch accelerator based in Horsham, PA, revolutionizes and inverts this paradigm by first identifying patients who are interested in participating in clinical trials and then linking them with experienced local clinical study investigators.

This fundamental shift of the clinical trials launch process is just one of the many healthcare issues Acurian CEO Leslie Michelson will address during the eHealthcareWorld Conference in New York on Tuesday, December 5 at 10:00 a.m. Part of a distinguished panel of industry experts that will discuss "Clinical Trials and Patient Recruitment: The Partnerships, the Promise and the Perils," Michelson brings a unique perspective to this industry panel.

As CEO of Acurian, which utilizes proprietary Web-enabled databases and clinical trial applications to accelerate and improve the launch of clinical trials, Michelson recognizes the potential role of the Internet in improving patient access to information and is utilizing it as a means of inverting the study launch paradigm.

"Previously, pharmaceutical companies relied on a network of colleagues and industry members to locate appropriate clinical investigators," Michelson says. "In turn, those investigators relied on an informal network of colleagues and patients to meet patient enrollment goals. With the advent of Acurian, however, we have created a process whereby pharmaceutical companies can identify an area ripe with patient interest and then select an experienced physician in that area who possesses a proven track record as a clinical investigator. In so doing, Acurian puts patients first in the clinical trials launch process."

The challenge, Michelson says, is not that patients are uninterested in participating in clinical trials, but rather that they are unaware of trials as a legitimate therapeutic option. Recognizing a tremendous gap in the flow of information between physician and patient, Michelson and Acurian sought to identify a means of uniting physicians who need patients with patients seeking trials. The Internet is that means, he says.

"Although there are many sources of healthcare information available on the web, none is focused sharply on providing patients with the most up-to-date facts about new and emerging treatments and clinical trials," Michelson explains. "Acurian's commitment is to ensure that people have the tools they need to make the most informed choices about their healthcare."

Join Michelson and the other panel members at the eHealthcareWorld Conference at the Javits Center on Tuesday, December 5 at 10:00 am to hear their thoughts on other industry trends that are changing the way healthcare is delivered today. Statistics to consider in preparation for this discussion include:

-- Of the 100 million individuals online in the United States, more than 70
percent utilize the Internet to find healthcare information.

-- More than 75 percent of clinical trials fail to meet patient enrollment
deadlines, delaying the approval and release of innovative new therapies.

-- Leading pharmaceutical companies plan to quadruple the number of new
medicines launched annually each year.

-- This, combined with reduced development times and higher success rates in
discovery, is likely to create a sixfold increase in demand for patients.

For more information on Acurian, please visit http://www.acurian.com, or contact Cara Miller at 212/445-8263.