Metastatic Breast Cancer Alliance Announces Release of MBC Connect 2.0

NEW YORK, Dec. 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Metastatic Breast Cancer Alliance (MBCA), the largest coalition of nonprofit breast cancer organizations, pharmaceutical/biotech companies, and patient advocates in the U.S., today announced the release of MBC Connect 2.0. MBC Connect is an interactive, web- and mobile-friendly patient experience registry that empowers patients in the U.S. to collaborate with researchers to advance metastatic breast cancer research, and with this new release will also potentially match patients with clinical trials.

After patients enter their demographic information and disease history into the app, MBC Connect 2.0 identifies potential clinical trial matches, thus avoiding the current, complex trial search process.  As users enter additional data, all of which is kept private and encrypted, more targeted clinical trial options are provided, increasing the likelihood of finding a clinical trial that the patient qualifies for while meeting the patient's needs.

"Metastatic breast cancer patients can become their own best advocate by using MBC Connect 2.0 to match them with potential clinical trials which allows them to explore future treatment options," said Shirley A. Mertz, a metastatic breast cancer patient and Chair of the Metastatic Breast Cancer Alliance (MBCA). "Clinical trials drive advances in metastatic breast cancer treatment which can help patients live longer with better quality of life, yet fewer than 1 in 20 people with cancer ever take part in a clinical trial. One of our goals with MBC Connect 2.0 is to give patients better access to clinical trials to increase participation."

MBC Connect 2.0 greatly simplifies the current trial search process that prevents many patients from discovering potentially life-saving, available treatments. Before MBC Connect 2.0, there were limited ways to simply and quickly find and research potential clinical trials. Doing so required significant time and an overwhelming amount of ongoing research. As a result, both physicians and their patients are often unaware of clinical trial options. This is one of the contributing factors for the extremely low participation rate for clinical trials, despite many patients expressing a willingness and desire to participate.

MBC Connect 2.0 also allows patients to keep a record of their own metastatic breast cancer story and easily share it with their care team and doctors, along with potential clinical trials matches. This streamlines the review process while facilitating further communication between patient and doctor.

"MBC Connect 2.0 will truly align researchers and MBC patients to advance the goal of accelerating MBC research," commented Dr. Timothy J. Pluard, Medical Director of St. Luke's Hospital Koontz Center for Advanced Breast Cancer. "Patients will have clinical trial recommendations personalized to their unique characteristics while researchers can utilize novel tools to glean insights from real world patient data."

MBCA is partnering with BreastCancerTrials.org (BCT) and Quantum Leap Healthcare Collaborative, its parent organization, to enable clinical trial matching on MBC Connect. BCT sources its clinical trial data from ClinicalTrials.gov, the US government's official registry of clinical trials. To create accurate and patient-friendly results, BCT updates its data from ClinicalTrials.gov on a daily basis, prepares trials for matching, writes patient-friendly summaries for each trial, and provides additional filters for narrowing match results. MBC Connect accesses the BCT/Quantum Leap Trial Matching Service via a secure connection.

MBC Connect 2.0 is available on Android and iOS devices, and via web browser, in both English and Spanish, ensuring widespread availability for patients living with metastatic breast cancer in the U.S.

About the Metastatic Breast Cancer Alliance
The Metastatic Breast Cancer Alliance (MBCA) is the largest coalition of nonprofit breast cancer organizations, pharmaceutical/biotech companies, and patient advocates in the U.S., including patients living with metastatic breast cancer, collectively working to transform and improve the lives of those living with the disease. To learn more about the MBCA and MBC Connect visit https://www.mbcalliance.org/ or follow us on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

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SOURCE Metastatic Breast Cancer Alliance