Conducting and completing clinical trials relies on successful recruitment of enough patient volunteers, who are appropriate matches, for any given study. Corengi, Inc. has developed a technology platform that supports a dedicated website with a matching engine and clinical trials directory and accompanying widget that can be embedded online by third parties. The purpose is to enable individuals to quickly identify geographically close trials, which they may be qualified for. The current focus is on Type 2 diabetes (T2D) but the tools can be enhanced to cover other diseases/conditions. Accelerating participant recruitment for clinical trials is an important public health goal that is specifically called out as a research topic of interest by the NCRR in the NIH SBIR omnibus solicitation. For this SBIR Phase 1 grant, Corengi, Inc. proposes the creation of new analogous clinical trial matching engines. The first component is to identify 3 to 5 diseases/conditions for which to create new clinical trials matching engines. This will be done by conducting survey and interview research and analyzing public data. The results will be used to determine the specific diseases/conditions optimally suited for a matching engine. An analysis of the universe of available trials on clinicaltrials.gov will also help determine the best candidates. The second component is the design, programming, and release of the new analogous matching engines. These efforts will build upon the Corengi team's experience in their development of the T2D engine. A medical questionnaire that the average patient can use and is effective at filtering the trials for each disease/condition will be designed for each of the new engines. New data import processes for the clinicaltrials.gov-based trial information will be developed and the criteria tex for each trial will be data mined and the appropriate algorithms coded. At this point, the new matching engines will be completed. The third component is to publicly release the new applications, analyze the resultant website metrics/user responses, and determine the commercialization potential. Press releases, social media integration, and search engine and social network marketing will be used to increase awareness of the matching tools. Research and feedback about the new engines will be correlated with the initial work done with T2D. The Corengi team has already demonstrated its ability to deliver a powerful T2D clinical trial matching engine, which has been well received by online diabetes communities and audiences. The company has taken successful initial steps in commercializing this product. Based on the firm's success to date and the ongoing public health need for patient volunteer recruitment to advance medical research, the NIH would be well- served to fund this SBIR Phase 1 grant proposal.
Corengi, Inc. has developed a technology platform, whose purpose is to enable individuals to quickly identify geographically close trials, which they may be qualified for, that supports a dedicated website with a matching engine and clinical trials directory and accompanying widget that can be embedded online by third parties. The current focus is on Type 2 diabetes but the tools can be enhanced to cover other diseases/conditions. This project proposal is to identify other diseases/conditions that may be suited to similar online resources, program the new applications, and analyze their impact on clinical trials recruitment by connecting a broader range of patients with clinical research.
