Response to VP Joe Biden’s Cancer Moonshot Call-to-Action to Accelerate Cancer Research
Costa Mesa, Calif. – August 17, 2016 – CureClick, a privately held digital health company that has developed the world’s first crowdsourcing platform engineered to promote clinical trial participation, education and awareness, today announced a commitment to double its network of its cancer Community Ambassadors in response to the company’s participation in the Cancer Moonshot Summit hosted by Vice President Joe Biden.
CureClick uses specially vetted Community Influencers, dubbed health “Ambassadors,” to educate and build awareness about critically important clinical trials. These individuals, united by a common passion to help their communities by providing support and leadership, are given access to patient-friendly clinical trial information through the CureClick platform that can be shared across their vast networks with just one click. By harnessing the power of social media, CureClick aims to vastly increase clinical trial awareness and participation and provide insights to research universities, biotech and pharmaceutical companies about their clinical programs by highlighting the patient perspective.
“Vice President Biden has been forthright in advocating that ultimately curing cancer will take a concerted joint effort of various stakeholders working collaboratively toward a common objective. Clinical trials for potential new therapies will play a crucial role in the overall success of this endeavor. That is why we humbly accept the challenge laid out by the Cancer Moonshot to help double the rate of progress in cancer research and treatment,” said Brian Poeschl, Chief Operating Officer of CureClick. “Currently, fewer than 4% of individuals who are diagnosed with cancer enroll and participate in clinical trials, suggesting a significant need to better educate patients on the availability and importance of trials, how they work, and the benefits they provide to individuals and society as a whole.”
Poeschl was one of more than 350 participants invited by the White House to the groundbreaking Summit, which saw researchers, oncologists and other care providers, data and technology experts, patients, families, and patient advocates gather to discuss how to accelerate cancer research. Following the Summit, CureClick entered into discussions with several cancer communities and trial sponsors to use the CureClick Advocacy Amplifier platform to extend their ability to reach patients with cancer. The Amplifier platform, currently in beta pilot programs with several organizations, will be made available for free to non-profits and advocacy organizations.
Information about clinical trials has historically been difficult to find and even harder to understand. By developing patient-friendly and medically accurate information that is easily shared by its network of Community Influencers through their social media channels, CureClick provides a new strategy to increase understanding of and participation in clinical trials. This community-powered approach helps create relatable touch points for individuals facing medical challenges and their families to find information about clinical trial programs.
CureClick makes it easy for Community Influencers to engage with clinical trial information, get educated, provide research insights and share trial resources with their communities. It currently has a network of more than 5,000 Patient Ambassadors who are active on blogs, Facebook and Twitter. Through its commitment to the Moonshot Initiative, CureClick plans to double that number to more than 10,000 by August 2017. In addition, through its partnership with WEGO Health, CureClick has exclusive access to a network of over 120,000 health influencers across hundreds of health conditions.
“We’re right at that inflection point,” said Poeschl. “We are now starting to see our Ambassadors recruit other influencers to sign up and become Ambassadors so that they can work together to accelerate research. This is the rocket fuel our ship needs for this moonshot.”
CureClick is a privately held digital health company that uses the world’s first proprietary crowdsourcing platform to enlist patient opinion leaders to educate the public about the value of clinical research, disseminate patient-friendly information with their social networks, build awareness of specific sponsor trials, and facilitate the process for identifying and enrolling suitable participants. For more information, visit https://www.cureclick.com.
We know patients see their online communities as lifelines, as one-stop-shops for the latest news and information about their health condition. We want to engage with them on their terms by partnering with the community leaders and advocates they trust.
