One Person Closer Campaign Educates Nurses on Clinical Trial Participation Shortages

Clinical trials have paved the way for groundbreaking research in the cancer space. But are healthcare teams always mindful in promoting these trials to their patients?

One non-profit organization is working to address just that.

TransCelerate BioPharma—a non-profit organization dedicated to improving global health by simplifying and accelerating research and development of innovative new therapies–recently launched its One Person Closer campaign to address just this.

The photojournalist campaign aims to show doctors, nurses and other healthcare providers that they can help facilitate research that advances science and may benefit their patients.

“Whether it's patients, physicians, biopharma companies or regulators, we all want new medicines that work and are supported with good data,” Joseph Kim, senior advisor of clinical innovation at Eli Lilly and Company and Clinical Research Awareness Campaign lead for TransCelerate's Clinical Research Awareness initiative, said in a press release.

“However, it can take way too long to execute research, in large part because not enough people are participating in clinical trials or aware of them. Physicians, nurses and other healthcare providers are important intermediaries here who can help us overcome this critical challenge by incorporating the topic of research into their daily practice.”

TransCelerate BioPharma noted that it is estimated that approximately 58 million participants are needed to meet the demands of enrolling studies on ClinicalTrials.gov, yet 20 percent of research sites fail to enroll even a single patient.

“When you look at some of our most pressing medical issues today—from cancer to heart disease to dementia–we need new and better treatments to advance our fight against these diseases,” Dr. Fabian Sandoval, CEO of Emerson Clinical Research Institute, said in a press release. “Clinical trials are the only path to new medicines, and we must work together to help people understand how to participate in them where appropriate.”

The photojournalist campaign features 12 video vignettes of patient advocates, healthcare providers and researchers sharing their stories to help “put a human face on research and development.”

The 12 stories in the One Person Campaign include:

• Alice Tsang Shaw MD, PhD, Thoracic Oncologist, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center;
• John P Clancy, MD, Pediatric Pulmonologist, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital;
• Brian Druker, MD, Physician-Scientist, Oregon Health and Science University;
• Tyler Jacks, PhD, Professor of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Director, David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research;
• Moshe Talpaz, MD, physician, Professor of Medicine, and Associative Division Chief, Hematology and Hematologic Malignancies, University of Michigan Cancer Center;
• Sabine Hadida, PhD, Senior Director, Chemistry Department, Vertex Pharma;
• Don Culbertson, PA, Physician Assistant, Marfa Country Clinic;
• Tom Marsilje, MD, PhD, Oncology researcher, Cancer patient and patient advocate (Tom died in November 2017);
• Doug Jensen, patient with chronic myeloid leukemia;
• Linnea Olson, patient advocate with non-small cell lung cancer;
• Kylie Meyer, patient with Cystic Fibrosis; and
• Robert Beall, PhD, former President and CEO of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation

Last month, the campaign hosted a variety of outlets for healthcare providers to get involved, including a SERMO Poll—titled “Discussing Clinical Trials with Patients”–as well as the One Person Closer Figure 1 Forum, and a Tweet Chat, both hosted by Sandoval. Readers can keep up with the campaign on Twitter by following the hashtag #OnePersonCloser.

For more information, visit One Person Closer on Facebook.