Pfizer and Private Access to develop website to accelerate clinical research

Published: 20-Aug-2009

Pfizer is to create a website with Private Access, a US-based innovator in privacy enhanced search technology, to increase awareness of and participation in clinical trials.


Pfizer is to create a website with Private Access, a US-based innovator in privacy enhanced search technology, to increase awareness of and participation in clinical trials.

Pfizer says the site will be the first to focus on patient privacy rights to connect patients, doctors and researchers with tailored information, tools and technology that will lead to more informed decisions about patient care, including clinical trial participation industry wide.

The companies aim to reduce the time needed to develop new treatments by making it possible for researchers, based on private access rights granted by the patient, to conduct more focused searches for clinical trial candidates.

California-based Private Access" patented technology allows patients to control to whom, and for what purposes, they grant access to their personal health information. By granting "private access" only to researchers focused on the conditions that interest them, patients can be more quickly and precisely matched to appropriate clinical trials while simultaneously protecting their confidential personal health information.

"Many patients who could benefit from participation in clinical trials don't enrol in them because they are not aware that potentially relevant research is under way or they cannot find a specific trial to meet their needs; others worry that they will lose control of their health information," said Freda Lewis-Hall, Pfizer's chief medical officer.

"With unprecedented collaboration among key groups, we can build the pre-eminent online clinical trial community to be used industry wide to share knowledge while giving patients the confidence and control to share their health information."

The costs associated with finding and enroling patients into clinical trials more than doubled between 2000 and 2005, and continue to climb.

"A privacy enhanced search engine for personal health information enables patients simultaneously to address their privacy concerns and improve access to care," said Robert Shelton, founder and ceo of Private Access.

The new site will be rolled out in phases, starting in late 2009.

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