Exco InTouch announces the new appointment of Director of Patient Recruitment, Judith Teall. The newly created position will drive Exco InTouch to build on its “patient centric” approach to managing clinical trials by identifying barriers to recruitment and  retention, enhancing the crucial relationship between patient, trial processes and the sponsor company. Based at Exco InTouch’s European headquarters in Hertfordshire, UK, Teall’s role will see her lead and direct patient engagement solutions, lending her first-rate experience to further develop Exco’s recruitment, retention and compliance suite of services for the company’s biopharmaceutical sponsors and Contract Research Organization (CRO) clients.

Exco InTouch, is pleased to announce that it as well as sponsoring the 2nd International mHealth Networking Conference, on the 8th and 9th September in San Diego, it will also be presenting a talk entitled “Engaging the Patient with text, email and Social Media”. Patrick Hughes and Ben Wilson will be presenting as part of  the ‘Using Mobile Technologies and Social Media in Clinical Trials and Healthcare Programs’ conference tract. During the talk delegates will hear how the effective use of every day simple ubiquitous technology is driving growth in the mHealth arena.

Exco InTouch, the leading provider of patient communication solutions for the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors, announces that its new mobilePRO (mobile Patient Reported Outcomes) technology is a powerful solution that overcomes issues associated with traditional ePRO (electronic Patient Reported Outcomes) technology. In collaboration with The University of Queensland, Exco InTouch conducted an evaluation of mobile phone technology for independent remote data capture, using the Western Ontario and McMaster Osteoarthritis (WOMAC®) NRS 3.1 Index. This study was designed to test the feasibility and effectiveness of using mobile phones to capture patient data in clinical trials and overcome the challenges of traditional data capture methods.

In a follow up to the story we showcased in January, a recent case study in americanbanker.com highlighted how SMS technology transends all age barriers and is readily accepted as a secure method of interacting with your bank to manage your financial dealings. Here, a large US bank reported that when given the choice users of all age groups were willing to accept bank communications via SMS.  These results came as a surprise as the bank thought that SMS technology would be primarily of interest to teenagers and those in their 20s. Instead, an enthusiastic "yes" came back from all kinds of people: teenagers and young people certainly, but also working adults, stay-at-home moms and even retirees. It wasn't of "some" interest — it was in demand with more than 15 million customers opting in to receive bank communications by SMS.

This article provides an overview of the impact of the new FDA industry guidance on current Patient Reported Outcome (PRO) services and identifies ways that the industry can utilise the emerging PRO toolset to ensure regulatory compliance going forward.

Exco InTouch, the leading provider of patient communication solutions for the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors will showcase its portfolio of mobile Patient Reported Outcomes solutions at the 46th annual Drug Information Association meeting, June 13 – 17, 2010 in Washington, DC. The Exco InTouch range of clinical trial communication solutions will be showcased exclusively on booth #838. Exco InTouch will also be presenting a talk at the meeting on Patient Recruitment in a Technological Era as well as a poster on Electronic Data Capture Using the WOMAC NRS 3.1 Index.

On June 1st and 2nd Exco InTouch held a Free Webinar entitled: Using mobile-PRO for Patient Data Capture with Validated Scales and Assessments – How the m-WOMAC NRS3.1 index was successfully validated and deployed in an Osteoarthritis study

During this FREE WEB Seminar the attendees heard first hand:

Exco InTouch, the leading provider of patient communication solutions for the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors, has carried out a poll demonstrating the effectiveness of cellphone technology in clinical studies, following its recent webinar on “Moving from ePRO to mobile-PRO”. The webinar, in collaboration with Novartis, discussed distinct advantages of ePRO (electronic reported outcomes) using cellphone technology, known in the industry as mobile-PRO (mobile patient reported outcomes), to accurately and reliably capture real-time patient data.

As with all services, we at Exco InTouch are asked supporting questions around the claims that are made in the sales and marketing literature. Therefore we would like to take this opportunity to share with you the top four findings from some analysis we have undertaken on the use of our market leading ePRO CELL service in clinical studies. This analysis looked within the study population and compared the compliance rates between those who had access to ePRO CELL and those who used traditional reminder methods.

When considering the communications platform to be used within your clinical trials, it is interesting to note that geographically there are subtle differences in how the end user is able to interface with your study.  Infrastructure differences between the developed and developing world are often overlooked in study design and delegates at the recent CITA wireless 2010 conference were told that the mobile phone is becoming a great equalizer between the haves and have-nots around the world.

Two recent reports have highlighted the benefits of using cell phone technology within Clinical Trials to improve patient compliance. 

The first, a collaborative paper between MDS Pharma services and Exco InTouch, reported that the use of outreach via cell phone, resulted in typical response rates of 50% to 60% compared to approximately 5% when using traditional paper-based methods.  The authors concluded that the

Trial Outreach via Texts - The use of text messaging technology for recruitment in Phase I studies.

By: Tim Davis, John Taylor

The success of clinical trials is directly related to finding good quality volunteers and patients, which can be extremely challenging. Traditional methods of clinical trial recruitment, such as physician referral or paper-based methods have a very low success rate. One popular method of recruitment is advertising, used in a wide range of environments such as universities, hospitals, clinics, and in the media. During the recruitment process traditional methods can be helpful; however, they all require the subject to take the first step. Ultimately, many good quality volunteers simply never find out about clinical trial opportunities.

On March 30th and 31st Exco InTouch held a webinar entitled - Moving from ePRO to mobile-PRO - How enlightened Sponsors and CROs are realizing more value by collecting patient self-report diary data and assessments using cell phone and internet technology

During the FREE WEB Seminar the attendees learnt first hand:

According to new research by mobile messaging company Tekelec, 60% of those over 45 were found to be just as likely to use SMS as they were to make voice calls from their mobile device. The survey of 500 people in North America and Europe also found that text messaging is gaining on email as the preferred means of daily international communication, with 32% of responses across all ages preferring SMS, compared to 33% for email. And nearly a third of respondents said their use of SMS would increase in 2010.

They strike fear into the hearts of the most seasoned swimmers and surfers, and can empty a beach in minutes, but the fearsome great white shark could finally have met its match in the form of a humble text message.

58% of Americans now have a mobile phone with web connectivity.

Say you need someone to do something for you in Singapore. It turns out it’s rude to leave someone a few voice mail messages. Even several email requests are a bit of a no-no. Instead, communication via so-called “text” or short messaging systems (SMS) is the norm and the Emily-Post approved technique.

DOCTOR WILL TEXT YOU NOW
Remote transmission of your vital signs, automatic drug administration, diagnosis by text message some specialists think that technology will drive the personal health care of the future and that it will be the saviour of the NHS.