WCG Clinical Services Division Partners with Inspire to Improve Patient Recruitment in Clinical Trials

PRINCETON, N.J., Sept. 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The WIRB-Copernicus Group®'s (WCGtm) Clinical Services Division has partnered with Inspire, the largest online community of patients and caregivers, to make clinical research more accessible to all patients, especially those suffering from rare and genetic-based diseases.

Together, using permission-based and opt-in approaches, WCG and Inspire will connect patients with clinical trial opportunities based on their areas of interest and self-identified disease states, giving those patients greater access to cutting-edge treatments and potentially life-saving therapies.

"As the focus of clinical research shifts from the treatment of widespread illness to the study of genetic-based disease, patient volunteers are becoming increasingly hard to identify," said Donald A. Deieso, PhD, Executive Chairman and CEO, WCG. "The Inspire platform is the largest network of proactive, self-identified disease patients in the world. Through this partnership, we will make it easier for researchers and patients to connect, accelerating important advances in this underserved area of clinical research and care."

Inspire is a moderated online health social network, which is comprised of 225 individual communities, more than half of which are partnered with trusted US-based nonprofit patient advocacy organizations. Today, Inspire's total membership is 1.5 million members, and Inspire has more than 10 million active annual users.

A source of both practical advice and emotional support, the platform is particularly useful to patients with rare diseases, and their caregivers, who often struggle to attain an accurate diagnosis or to identify clinicians with specific knowledge of their disease. Inspire also helps biopharmaceutical research sponsors who are interested in making their clinical development programs more patient-centric by effectively and directly engaging and recruiting hard-to-find patients into clinical research, and in better understanding and serving the needs of patients.

"Patients are the heart of clinical research," said Brian Loew, co-founder and CEO of Inspire. "At Inspire, we are committed to advancing medical progress by actively engaging patients who possess an authentic desire to improve the quality of human health. We are proud to partner with WCG to expand our global network and to deliver even greater value to our existing clients and members."

WCG is the world's leading provider of solutions that measurably improve the quality and efficiency of clinical research. By connecting the members of the clinical research ecosystem and optimizing their interaction, WCG decreases the length, cost and administrative burden of clinical trials. Inspire is the latest addition to WCG's fully-integrated, best-of-breed patient engagement solution, which includes the CenterWatch Clinical Trial Listing Service, ThreeWire Patient Enrollment and Retention Services, Patient iConnect Global Patient Recruitment Platform, and the Virgil Electronic Clinical Outcome Assessment (eCOA) and Patient Reported Outcomes (ePRO) Applications.

Commented Jill Johnston, President of WCG's Site Support Division, "From our roots as the world's most trusted protector of research volunteers, to our expanded role optimizing clinical trials, WCG always puts patients first. We are thrilled to partner with Inspire, an organization that not only shares our values, but facilitates the inclusion and empowerment of patients."

Membership to Inspire is open to patients, caregivers and providers across all therapeutic areas. To join, visit www.inspire.com.

About WCG (WIRB-Copernicus Group)
WCG (WIRB-Copernicus Group) is the world's leading provider of solutions that measurably improve the quality and efficiency of clinical research. The industry's first clinical services organization (CSO), WCG enables biopharmaceutical companies, CROs, and institutions to accelerate the delivery of new treatments and therapies to patients, while maintaining the highest standards of human subject protections. For more information, please visit www.wcgclinical.com or follow us on Twitter @WCGClinical.

About Inspire
Inspire (https://corp.inspire.com) is the leading healthcare social network, with a mission to accelerate medical progress through a world of connected patients. Partnering with over 100 nonprofit patient advocacy organizations, Inspire creates and manages support communities for more than one million patients and caregivers, representing more than 3,600 health conditions. The company helps pharmaceutical companies integrate patient-centricity into the pharmaceutical product lifecycle, from clinical trial design and recruitment to post-marketing brand/unbranded activities.

SOURCE WCG Clinical Services