JD Health Accelerates Clinical Trial Patient Recruitment, Supporting Over 400 Phase I-III Trials in One Year
On May 20, International Clinical Trials Day, JD Health, in collaboration with Pharmaron and the Drug Information Association (DIA), conducted a survey targeting clinical trial participants and their families to accelerate the high-quality development of new drug clinical trials. Together, they authored and released the “2022 Patient Recruitment Survey Report” (hereinafter referred to as the “Report”). By actively listening to patients’ voices and understanding their needs, the initiative aims to address the specific pain points, challenges, and bottlenecks in patient recruitment for clinical trials.
It is understood that under the normalized epidemic prevention and control measures, special circumstances such as patients’ difficulties in cross-regional travel have posed additional challenges to clinical trial operations. To address the many pain points in patient recruitment for clinical trials at the current stage, JD Health partnered with contract research organizations (CROs) and numerous pharmaceutical company partners last June to establish the “Clinical Trial Patient Recruitment Center.” Over the past year, the center has listed more than 400 ongoing Phase I–III clinical trial projects, accelerating and enhancing the efficiency of new drug development and delivering significant value to the approval and market launch processes for new drugs.
As China’s healthcare reforms continue to advance and policies encouraging innovation are consistently introduced, the review process for new drugs has accelerated, leading to a rapid increase in the number of clinical trials for new drugs. According to data from the Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) of the National Medical Products Administration, as cited in the Report via its “Drug Clinical Trial Registration and Publicity Platform,” a total of 3,279 new clinical trials were registered and publicly disclosed in 2021, representing a 29.30% increase from the 2,536 trials recorded in 2020. However, issues such as low implementation efficiency after approval remain.
In fact, clinical drug trials are a critical phase in the journey from drug development to market approval. Behind every new drug launch lies the selfless dedication of trial participants and healthcare professionals. If all 3,279 aforementioned clinical trials were to be conducted, approximately one million clinical trial participants would be required, posing significant challenges for patient recruitment.
According to data from the “Report,” among 5,382 survey respondents, 81% had heard of clinical trials. However, only 66% obtained this information through hospitals, physicians, and other medical professionals. This indicates that the general public faces relatively high barriers in accessing such information. While ensuring professional services, more convenient channels for information access and communication are needed for the general public.
Regarding “Preferred Methods for Science Popularization,” 38% of respondents favored brochures or e-books, 31% preferred videos, 18% chose expert lectures or live streams, and 13% liked comic-style science popularization materials. In terms of “Preferred Content for Clinical Trial Science Popularization,” a total of 75% of respondents expressed interest in articles/videos explaining clinical trial basics (e.g., what clinical trials are, how they are conducted, and their pros and cons), as well as expert-led videos or live streams covering disease-related knowledge and information on new drugs.
The aforementioned data highlights three major challenges in clinical trials: First, patient recruitment initiatives urgently need to overcome geographical limitations, such as by integrating online and offline approaches. Second, professional knowledge must be translated into accessible and engaging content to facilitate understanding and acceptance among the general patient population. Third, dissemination pathways and channels must be flexible and diverse, aligning with the public’s fragmented attention spans and media consumption habits, for instance, by fully leveraging cyberspace.
Overall, based on the multi-dimensional data analysis in the “Report,” the current shortage of patient resources is mainly due to competition for high-quality clinical resources and a lack of effective public education on clinical trial participation. Therefore, integrated online and offline science popularization and education for clinical trials are particularly important.
It is precisely on this basis that JD Health has launched a digital solution centered around the “Clinical Trial Patient Recruitment Center.” On one hand, JD Health aims to fully leverage the flexibility of online channels to break down physical “barriers,” deliver more comprehensive and in-depth clinical trial education, and reach a broader target audience. On the other hand, by strengthening integrated innovation between online and offline platforms and collaborating with partners in the patient recruitment field, JD Health works with offline institutions or hospitals to provide public education on clinical trials through various formats, thereby addressing participants’ concerns and alleviating the challenges associated with clinical trial science communication and education.
Guided by the goal of accelerating the digital transformation of clinical research, JD Health’s “Clinical Trial Patient Recruitment Center” has currently established multi-dimensional collaborations on patient recruitment for clinical trials with nearly 20 CRO companies and related clinical research institutions, including Pharmaron, Hope Medicine, Jie Xin Medicine, and Aisha Medical.
As of mid-May 2022, within a period of nearly one year, JD Health’s “Clinical Trial Patient Recruitment Center” served more than 400 ongoing Phase I–III clinical trial projects. Among these, 108 projects received registrations from 670 subjects. Through intelligent matching, JD Health helped patients access new drug channels, precisely matched them with appropriate clinical trial projects, and accelerated subject enrollment.
It is reported that over the past year, JD Health’s “Clinical Trial Patient Recruitment Center” has continuously provided and refined digital solutions for CROs and pharmaceutical companies. By bridging the information gap between physicians and patients, Phase I, II, and III clinical trials of drugs can be listed online and made accessible to potential participants. Professional project management further streamlines the recruitment process, accelerating its pace. Meanwhile, to enhance recruitment efficiency, JD Health’s digital patient recruitment solution also enables matching clinical trial requirements with regional disease epidemiology maps, thereby facilitating efficient alignment between projects and eligible subjects.
Users can log in to the JD.com app, search for “Patient Recruitment” or “Clinical Trials,” and access the dedicated section page.
Meanwhile, through deep collaboration with pharmaceutical companies to accelerate the approval and market launch of new drugs, JD Health is also bringing significant benefits to patients participating in clinical trials. Through these clinical trial programs, patients not only gain access to free treatment, thereby receiving care at a lower cost, but also benefit from the advantages of digital platforms, such as streamlined recruitment processes and the removal of barriers to participation. This enables patients to make more informed decisions about enrolling in optimal clinical trials after gaining a thorough understanding of the projects in the early stages, while also allowing for continuous tracking of subsequent progress.
Furthermore, JD Health will collaborate with partners such as the Drug Information Association (DIA) to advance innovation in clinical trial training programs for physicians, thereby further enhancing the clinical trial capabilities of mid-career and young doctors in China. By building an “information bridge” between patients and healthcare providers, we aim to continuously accelerate the high-quality development of the clinical trial industry.
Wang Yiting, General Manager of the Pharmaceutical Division at JD Health, stated that digitalization can effectively improve the quality of clinical research data, enhance operational efficiency, reduce trial costs, and mitigate trial risks. In the future, JD Health’s “Clinical Trial Patient Recruitment Center” will continue to leverage its digital capabilities, strengthen multi-party collaboration, further break down information silos between doctors and patients, and accelerate the implementation of digital applications in clinical research.