The Michael J. Fox Foundation has launched a Parkinson’s Disease clinical trial matcher, which anonymously connects volunteers to trials in need of participants in the UK and Ireland.
Fox Trial Finder, which has been available in the US since April 2012, aims to match volunteers with trials most likely to need them, hoping to improve the efficiency of the enrolment process and increase the number of patients who get involved in the discovery of new treatments.
Michael J. Fox, who has had Parkinson’s Disease for more than 20 years, said that the website demonstrates to the Parkinson’s community that “there’s something you can do.”
The actor has been a long-term advocate of the potential of online information tools in healthcare to empower patients.
“Participating in research makes you an agent of change. Fox Trial Finder is a practical tool to help you get started.
"That’s a message we hope everyone affected by Parkinson’s will receive loud and clear,” said Fox, whose foundation has funded more than $289m in research of the disease.
The online platform allows volunteers, with and without Parkinson’s Disease, to input their geographic location and medical history into a series of web forms.
Fox Trial Finder then compares this information against its database of all Parkinson’s clinical trials currently looking for participants.
The system instantly returns a shortlist of best potential matches and the volunteer can review these and make contact with the trial teams via the website’s built-in messaging function.
The system also allows research coordinators to actively search for suitable volunteers.
Fox Trial Finder has more than 190 clinical trials in its system and has nearly 7,000 volunteers already registered. The site will also alert users to new trials as they launch.
Dr Soania Mathur, patient council member at the foundation and Fox Trial Finder volunteer, said: “As both a physician and a Parkinson’s patient who’s lived with the disease for over 14 years, I personally identify with the urgent need to find a cure and clinical research is vital to getting many of the answers we need.
“[The site] empowers volunteers to connect with trial teams and enroll in studies, allowing the patient and research communities to work together towards the cure,” she explained.
Research undertaken by the foundation found that more than 85% of a 1,000 Parkinson’s patients surveyed wish they were better informed about clinical trials, with more than in three in four wanting a secure and anonymous online tool to help them locate such trials.
The site is also available in Canada and Australia and is expected to launch in other international locations later this year.