Awareness for Clinical Trials as a Care Option

The efforts to get more visibility for clinical trials awareness, and to offer it as a care option, continue this May with a

Lisa Henderson

number of events.

Although this letter won’t be available until after this event takes place, it is one that the Coalition for Clinical Trials Awareness has supported for a number of years, the Clinical Trials Awareness Week. This year, it was celebrated April 30-May 4 and included a Tweet Chat on May 2 and a visit to Capitol Hill May 1. Along with the National Coalition for Infant Health, a panel discussion was scheduled to focus on the challenges in recruiting infants and children for clinical trials and the subsequent gap in new therapies for the neonatal population. Topics also slated for discussion included the need for incentives to improve the gap in medical innovation for infants and children, and an update on the Promoting Life Saving New Therapies for Neonates Act (H.R. 2641).

On May 19, the Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research Participation (CISCRP) is holding its popular AWARE for All event in Los Angeles at the USC campus. AWARE for All is a free educational program that provides valuable information and resources on the clinical research process to help people make informed decisions about participation. The event serves as a platform for dialogue between local patients, members of the public, and research professionals. Leading up to the event, the AWARE for All Journey to Better Health Mobile Unit will be traveling around Los Angeles with an interactive, experiential mobile unit to educate the public about clinical research (bit.ly/2r376aH).

International Clinical Trials Day is celebrated every year on May 20 to bring the global clinical trials community together for communications, events, meetings, debates, and recognition on clinical research. It is celebrated on May 20, to recognize James Lind, a Scottish physician who first studied scurvy in a systematic experiment on that day in 1747. Because he equally divided sailors into groups that tested different treatments against scurvy, with all having the same diet, it is one of the first reported, controlled, clinical experiments in medical history.

Another event, to be held on May 31, is the final gala event to celebrate the PopUp Star clinical trial awareness contest. You can learn more here, but the premise is that all healthcare stakeholders can impact awareness for clinical trials as a care option with grassroots community-based events and planning. #PopupStar submissions have already closed and the three finalists will be brought to New York City for the award ceremony and live broadcast of the winning team announcement. Applied Clinical Trials will be in attendance to help spread the word of clinical research as a care option.

In addition, the @OnePersonCloser campaign I wrote about in March (bit.ly/2vU6Y2V), and the Bridging Clinical Research and Clinical Care event I covered (bit.ly/2KlaeaM) continue discussions and feedback in earnest.

I learned quite a few good ideas about communicating the value of clinical trials at the Bridging Clinical conference. One was that at one hospital, they wore button pins that said, “Ask Me About Clinical Trials.” This one small effort did translate into trial awareness. In our own ways, those of us in the industry can do small efforts (or big ones) to bring trials closer to patients.

Lisa Henderson is Editor-in-Chief of Applied Clinical Trials. She can be reached at lisa.henderson@ubm.com. Follow Lisa on Twitter: @trialsonline