By Deborah Borfitz

June 23, 2008 | Speedier recruitment drives for Phase I studies is just the first of many benefits that will result from a multi-stage integration project under way between mobile messaging provider Exco InTouch and early-phase electronic data capture (EDC) and site automation specialist Logos Technologies.

The completed integration work allows the recruitment system housed in Alphadas, the electronic universe manned by Logos Technologies, to be tapped for suitable patients based on a protocol’s inclusion and exclusion criteria, explains Giles Wilson, the company’s business and operations director. Those patients are then sent a text message via Atlas, the short messaging service (SMS) tool of Exco InTouch. Patients respond to questions using their mobile phone, and the replies are immediately routed to site recruitment staff through Alphadas.

Volunteers who populate the database have either participated in a trial before or expressed an interest in doing so, in some cases by responding by text message to a recruitment ad, says Tim Davis, co-founder of Exco InTouch.

In the second stage of integration, to be completed later this summer, Alphadas will also be used to send study-related text “reminders” to enrolled patients via Atlas, such as to avoid consuming coffee and alcohol 24 hours prior to study commencement, says Wilson.

In the third quarter of 2008, the Alphadas EDC tool is expected to be integrated with Atlas to allow data capture via patients’ mobile phone between follow-up visits once they’ve left the inpatient setting, allowing full visibility of all Alphadas data through its online web portal.

Sponsor/patient interaction using Exco InTouch’s SMS technology has already proven to significantly improve patient compliance and retention throughout the life of a clinical study, says Davis. Logos Technologies’ Alphadas has been successfully used by life science organizations for over a decade. Both companies are headquartered in the U.K.

The two systems were a perfect match because they share many of the same clients, some of whom actively encouraged the marriage, says Davis. Up until now, nurses in Phase I units have been manually loading subjects’ mobile phone numbers into Atlas, which then fires out text messages at appropriate, predetermined times. Alphadas, meanwhile, has been communicating with potential study subjects via a call center, email, or post.

The union is particularly ideal for Phase I studies that are conducted over a relatively short time frame, notes Davis.

Several top-10 pharmaceutical clients are currently evaluating the integrated system, says Wilson. Usage is expected to begin in the fall.

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