Exco InTouch Partners with MMG

Exco InTouch Partners with MMG to Provide Effective Patient Recruitment and Retention in Clinical Trials 

(9 September, 2008) Exco InTouch (www.excointouch.com) the leading mobile messaging provider for the pharmaceutical industry, announces that it has partnered with US-headquartered MMG (www.mmgct.com/mmg) an international industry leader in patient enrolment for clinical trials to enhance the efficacy of patient recruitment and retention services for pharmaceutical sponsors. The integration of Exco InTouch’s REACTTM short messaging service (SMS) technology will complement MMG’s services, enhancing the company’s ability to quickly find good quality patients through advertising, pre-screening and selection. Additionally, Exco InTouch’s innovative mobile technology allows MMG to interact directly with subjects during a clinical study, which can significantly improve retention for faster and more cost-effective trials.

REACTTM SMS technology from Exco InTouch will be offered by MMG in synergy with its existing enrolment services, enabling sponsors to quickly identify and pre-screen potential subjects for clinical studies. The partnership between Exco InTouch and MMG comes as a response to the demand from pharmaceutical sponsors for new and innovative methods to find good quality, compliant volunteers for clinical trials. Exco InTouch’s technology complements MMG’s existing patient communication and recruitment services, offering SMS-based recruitment advertising and enabling fast assessment of potential subjects’ suitability via SMS.

In addition to substantially improving patient recruitment, the new combined services will offer significant benefits to sponsors throughout the life of the trial. REACTTM produces and updates patient visit schedules, meaning that site personnel do not need to refer to the trial protocol each time a change is made. Customized visit and medication reminders are automatically sent to patients via SMS, ensuring that subjects comply with the trial requirements while minimizing the input required from study organizers.

John Benbrook, CEO of MMG, comments: “Pharmaceutical sponsors are constantly looking for novel ways to improve patient selection for clinical trials as well as retaining subjects throughout the study. Adding Exco InTouch’s innovative SMS communication technology to our existing patient recruitment and retention services enhances our ability to find good quality patients and to support participants throughout the trial to ensure retention.”

“The new combined services from Exco InTouch and MMG reflect our close collaboration, enabling sponsors to streamline clinical trials and offering significant productivity gains. In addition, SMS communication between sponsors and patients ensures that subjects feel supported throughout the trial, typically improving retention by 20%,” adds Tim Davis, Co-Founder of Exco InTouch.

The use of SMS technology as part of complete patient recruitment and retention strategies will be the subject of a joint presentation by Exco InTouch and MMG at the 4th Annual Patient Recruitment and Retention in Clinical Trials, 13-15 October, 2008, Amsterdam, Holland. Exco InTouch and MMG will co-host the half day pre-conference workshop focusing on patient recruitment and retention strategies. To register for this discussion, please email info@excointouch.com

For further information on the Exco InTouch portfolio of solutions, please call +44 1279 408 210 or +1 949 725 2946 or visit www.excointouch.com

For further information on MMG please call +44 (0) 1279 461708 or +1 (301) 984-7191 or visit http://www.wegetpatients.com 
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For further press information please contact: Eleanor CallanMonk, The Scott Partnership, 1 Whiteside, Station Road, Holmes Chapel, Cheshire CW4 8AA Tel: +44 1477 539539 Fax: +44 1477 539540 e-mail: exco@scottpr.com

About Exco InTouch
Exco InTouch provides secure mobile communication for healthcare and biopharmaceutical applications improving subject recruitment, retention and compliance during clinical trials and pharmaceutical marketing studies.

About MMG
MMG, a Ketchum (www.ketchum.com/mmg_news_release) company and part of the Omnicom Group (NYSE:OMC) family, is the premier global patient recruitment and retention agency. With experience across a vast range of therapeutic areas, populations and study types in over 70 countries, MMG provides strategies which will be accepted by study teams, ethics committees and patient populations whilst delivering the best return on investment for the sponsor.