Healthy Skepticism Library item: 15575

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

Acurian Announces Release of Clinical Trial Social Networking Application, Click it Forward
Fierce Biotech 2009 Feb 23
http://www.fiercebiotech.com/press-releases/acurian-announces-release-clinical-trial-social-networking-application-click-it-forwa

Abstract:

Application will increase clinical research awareness and raise money for over 20 medical causes

Full text:

Acurian, Inc., a leading provider of patient recruitment and retention solutions, announced today that it has released a new social networking application for clinical trial awareness and patient recruitment called Click it Forward. The company developed the application for the two most popular social networking platforms, Facebook and MySpace.

Acurian already maintains an active database of over 50 million individuals who have opted-in to receive new healthcare information, including clinical trial opportunities. According to Scott Connor, Acurian’s Vice President of Marketing, the launch of Click it Forward will serve to grow the database while also raising money for over 20 medical causes.

“Social networking is an ideal environment for promoting clinical trial awareness and increasing Acurian’s direct-to-patient recruitment capabilities,” explained Connor. “Facebook and MySpace together have nearly 200 million registered users, and we believe that Click it Forward plays well to these online audiences based on the application’s healthcare and altruistic characteristics.”

People register and install the free Click it Forward application on their Facebook or MySpace page, and then spread the application exponentially by inviting their online friends to install it. In doing so, they gain points based on how many friends subsequently install Click it Forward. The more points gained, the more money that Acurian donates to a selection of preferred medical causes selected by the user upon registration. The application also integrates GoogleTM Earth so that users can see a dynamic, visual map of their own Click it Forward network.

“Web 2.0 is driving real business opportunities in hundreds of industries, including healthcare,” continued Connor. “We are leveraging the platform to help our customers gain access to new patients, and in turn we are giving back to causes that will benefit from new therapies brought about through clinical research.”

To support the Click it Forward launch, Acurian has also launched a companion

website at http://www.clickitforward.org.

About Acurian

Acurian is a leading full-service provider of clinical trial patient recruitment and retention solutions for the life sciences industry. Through its proprietary patient panel of over 50 million patients, centralized advertising capabilities, and a fully hosted enrollment management technology platform, Acurian is able to identify, contact, prescreen, and refer patients into clinical trials, all while supporting investigator sites with services to maximize the randomization potential of every referred patient. Since 1998, Acurian has supported over 300 protocols for more than 60 companies. Acurian’s investors include Euclid SR Partners,

ProQuest Investments, JP Morgan Partners, Flatiron Partners, CDP Capital

Technology Ventures, and Merck Capital Ventures.