Acurian Announces Direct Access To Over 50% Of Diagnosed Type 2 Diabetics For The Purpose Of Clinical Trial Recruitment

Main Category: Diabetes
Also Included In: Clinical Trials / Drug Trials;  IT / Internet / E-mail
Article Date: 17 Sep 2008 - 3:00 PDT

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Acurian, Inc., a leading provider of patient recruitment solutions, announced today that its database of 50 million opted-in disease sufferers now includes over 50% of the 16 million diagnosed type 2 diabetics in the United States. According to the National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse, there are 17.9 million diagnosed diabetics in the United States, 90% of whom are estimated to have type 2 diabetes.

"It should come as no surprise that diabetes is one of the most robust indications in our database," said Rick Malcolm, PhD, Acurian's CEO. "But the fact that over half of the country's type 2 diabetics are in there and receptive to receiving clinical trial information is clearly worth noting, particularly as competition for research participants has risen dramatically in this therapeutic area."

According to Malcolm, the high prevalence and growing incidence of diabetes does not guarantee that clinical trials enroll smoothly. In fact, Malcolm suggests that the challenges are increasing.

"Compared to just a few years ago, the diabetes protocols we see today are not garden variety," continued Malcolm. "Trial sponsors are aggressively competing for treatment naïve, metformin-only, or diabetics with specific co-morbidities such as obesity. It's no longer just an issue of finding a diabetic in a certain HbA1c range."

As a result, Malcolm says, trial sponsors are relying on Acurian's ability to access large numbers of diabetes patients in order to effectively enroll the appropriate sub-sets, including minorities with diabetes, or those with type 1.

Through its Recruitment Manager platform which has tracked over 40 diabetes studies, the company also has extensive recruitment and enrollment metrics that it uses to accurately predict enrollment rates over time, enabling Acurian to offer risk-sharing contracts that are based on the company meeting patient recruitment milestones.

"We have a firm grasp on how diabetes patients will respond to our clinical trial invitation, the rate at which they will pre-qualify based on specific inclusion/exclusion criteria, and the percentage that will sign an informed consent form," concluded Malcolm. "Therefore, we combine unparalleled patient access with objective, historical data to provide a recruitment solution for diabetes trials that is fast, predictable and truly contributory."

About Acurian

Acurian is a leading full-service provider of clinical trial patient recruitment solutions for the life sciences industry. Through its proprietary patient panel of over 50 million patients, centralized advertising capabilities, and a fully hosted enrollment management technology platform, Acurian is able to identify, contact, prescreen, and refer patients into clinical trials, all while supporting investigator sites with services to maximize the randomization potential of every referred patient. Since 1998, Acurian has supported over 300 protocols for more than 60 companies. Acurian's investors include Euclid SR Partners, ProQuest Investments, JP Morgan Partners, Flatiron Partners, CDP Capital Technology Ventures, and Merck Capital Ventures.

Acurian