FEATURES

National Poll Shows That Relatively Few Americans Admire Clinical Trial Participants For Their Contribution To Medical Science

A recent national survey of 900 adults finds that only one-third of the public greatly admires people who participate in clinical trials. This compares with 84% who greatly admire organ donors and 68% who greatly admire those who donate blood. The survey, jointly conducted in mid-December 2006 by the independent non-profit organization Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research Participation (CISCRP) and polling firm Opinion Dynamics Corporation (ODC) is the first survey to measure public recognition of the role that clinical research participants play in advancing medical science. For detailed results of the survey, click here.

Legislation filed to expand insurance companies' coverage of healthcare expenses for clinical research participants

Lack of coverage has been cited as a barrier for participating in a clinical trial. In one study, 60% of respondents cited a fear of having their insurance denied as the reason they decided not to participate in a trial. This can result in the patient not benefiting from a new therapy or treatment option. Determent from enrollment may also result in delaying the completion of a trial as a whole because of too few participants, potentially affecting a larger group from benefiting from those trial results.

AWARE for All Heads South for the Winter

Having delivered three successful AWARE for All programs in 2006 (Boston, Indianapolis and Philadelphia), CISCRP continues to expand the program nationally with AWARE for All-Dallas scheduled for Saturday, March 31, 2007. AWARE-Dallas will be held in the Cityplace Conference Center located one-half mile north of downtown at 2711 North Haskell Avenue, Dallas from 9:00am to 2:30pm.

Back to top

A new newsletter format for the New Year

Dear CISCRP Supporters:

CISCRP will be distributing a new shorter version of The Participant that will be distributed every other month in the coming year. Previously, it had been distributed quarterly. In addition, my column will only appear once a year - every January - and each edition we will have a guest columnist who will be writing about a pertinent topic. March's guest columnist will be Ken Getz, co-founder and Chairman of the CISCRP Board. In this newsletter you will find a list of those companies and individuals who contributed to CISCRP during 2006 - we thank them so much for their generous support. As always Ken and I welcome your suggestions and comments.

Best wishes to all for a happy and healthy New Year!

Roni

Back to top

Thanks to our supporters

CISCRP would like to thank its 2006 Supporters for their generous contributions. Without their donations CISCRP would not have been able to: Expand the AWARE for All program nationally; create and launch the www.SearchClinicalTrials.org website; develop our new Public Service Announcement, which is about to be distributed to television stations across the country; distribute Education Before Participation brochures and dvds; establish the Educational Branding Initiative; provide speakers for conferences hosted by industry and non-profit organizations; conduct surveys and public opinion polls; serve as a resource for the media; and provide the public and patients with information about clinical research.

Acurian, Inc Advocate Health Care Altura 2000 American Cancer Society Southeast Region American College of Radiology American Diabetes Association American Lung Associate of Indiana Amgen Anaclim Association of Clinical Research Organizations AstraZeneca Aureus Averion Inc. Baker & Daniels Benchmark Research Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Biocrossroads Bioforce Solutions Blue Cross Blue Shield of MA Evan Brett Bouve College of Health Sciences- Northeastern University Burroughs Wellcome Fund Caritas St. Elizabeth's Medical Center Carolina Research Associates Charlottesville Medical Research Chesapeake Research Review, Inc. Circle City ACRP Clinical Research Center of Nevada Clinical Research Group, Inc. Community-Campus Partnerships for Health Community Health Network ConsentSolutions, INC Cornea Research Foundation of America Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Diana Anderson LLP Dovetail Associates Drexel University School of Medicine Duke Clinical Research Institute Eli Lilly & Co Essential Group. Inc Fast4wd Ogilvy Fast Search and Transfer Fox Chase Cancer Center Genesis Research International Genetic Alliance Genzyme Ken Getz Glaser Research Group, LTD Dr. Harold Glass Junius Gonzales Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation Healthcare Communications Group IntegReview, Inc. Ethical Review Board Investigator Support Services, Inc. Indiana University School of Medicine IUPUI Conference Center

Kidney Cancer Association Dr. Greg Koski Jim Kremidas Lupus Foundation of America, Inc. Mass Association of Health Plans Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Massachusetts Medical Society MdWise Medifacts International MedVadis Research Merck & Co. Methodist Research Institute of Inidianpolis MGH Institute of Health Professions Midwest Clinical Support, Inc. New England Chapter of the ACRP Newton-Wellesley Hospital Nixon Peabody Novartis Pharmaceuticals Novo Nordisk, Inc Ortho-McNeil Jannsen Pharmaceutical Services Opinion Dynamics Parkinson's Disease Foundation Partners HealthCare Systems Inc. PD Trials Pfizer Global Research and Development PharmaNet Philadelphia Clinical Research LLC PhRMA PPD Primary Care Cardiology Research Inc. PRIMR Promedica International Pulmonary Associates of Richmond, Inc. Quintiles Radiant Research Rapid Trials Rochester Clinical Research Center Rx Trials, Inc. Sankyo Pharmaceuticals SC Clinical Research Center, LLC Shade Foundation Shank Public Relations Counselors, Inc. Spartanburg Medical Center Stanford University StatWorks, Inc. Dr. Linda Strause Sharon and Patrick Terry Roni Thaler Thomas Jefferson University Trial Acceleration Trial Minded Tufts Health Plan University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine University of the Sciences- Philadelphia Laura Watkins Wyeth Pharmaceuticals York Clinical Consulting

Back to top

Community Calendar

Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research

Start your New Year off right by joining Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research (PRIM&R) in New Orleans, LA, this February for another high-quality, "can't miss" educational offering! Registration details and agenda information are available on PRIM&R's website. If you have questions, please contact Mariellen Diemand via e-mail at mdiemand@primr.org, or by phone at 617.423.4112, Ext. 210.

Back to top

The Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research Participation (CISCRP) is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to educating and informing the public, patients, medical/research communities, the media, and policy makers about clinical research and increasing recognition of the important role that clinical research volunteers play in advancing medical science.