A new public health tool dubbed World Without COVID launched this morning with the goal of connecting patients to coronavirus clinical trials across the country. The new product, which is powered by digital clinical trial company Clara Health, is aimed at helping propel clinical research and treatment surrounding the virus. 

In part, the product was inspired by product cofounder and Lyft Chief Strategy Officer Raj Kapoor’s own experience with coronavirus. He was traveling in Aspen when he started to feeling off. He was able to get a test at a drive-through and find out after nine days that he was COVID-19 positive.  

His case was mild, but after recovering from the virus he wanted to help. He started to have chats with people in Silicon Valley regarding the best way to get involved.

“In many conversations with folks from UCSF, Stanford and other leading research institutions, I found myself asking the same question over and over again: What's the biggest problem researchers have when it comes to developing tests, treatments, and vaccines? The answer was always the same: Finding eligible candidates for clinical trials quickly,” he said. 

This prompted him to start thinking of ways to get patients to the right trials quickly. 

“In fact, 86% of trials fall behind schedule because of difficulty recruiting participants. I knew we couldn’t afford to let those delays occur with this crisis and wanted to build something that was more comprehensive and frictionless,” he said. “A friend in [venture capital] introduced me to Evan Ehrenberg and Sol Chen, cofounders of Clara Health, who had already built the essential infrastructure to connect millions of individuals with clinical studies across the world.” 

The trio developed the new platform, now available to the public. On the new platform, patients can sign up and enter information about whether they are fully healthy, recovered from coronavirus or currently have the virus. Next, the tool walks volunteers through a questionnaire. Patients are then presented with clinical trials that best match them based on condition, trial location, phase of the study and other factors. 

“For COVID-19, we are going further and manually adding additional categorization tags to every clinical trial on our platform to provide an even more detailed matching experience,” Ehrenberg said. “In order to expedite the time it takes to connect with a trial site, we’ve also partnered with sponsors to streamline the process for participants. Applying to clinical trials through World Without COVID delivers a secure, direct-application workflow that enables researchers to work more quickly, and volunteers to get involved faster and easier.” 

WHY IT MATTERS

Globally there are 1,844,863 cases of coronavirus, according to the World Health Organization. Today the United States has the highest number of confirmed cases. Innovators, scientists and clinicians are looking for ways to treat and prevent the virus. The FDA has issued Emergency Use Authorizations for various medical devices, personal protective equipment and two types of controversial antimalarial drugs.  

However, research on the virus continues to plow ahead, as does the need for new research participants. 

“Even with various EUAs in place we’re seeing an explosion of COVID-19 research, with some days that have over 20 COVID-19-related trials listed in a 24-hour period. This is completely unprecedented, and driving a drastic increase in demand for participants – especially outpatients who are not in the hospital system and hard to reach. Even hospitals don't have time or resources to register inpatients for trials, given the more pressing care needs they have from COVID-19 conditions. Many of these trials are multi-city and multi-region, so we need a solution that transcends borders.”

THE LARGER TREND

Increasingly pharma companies have been turning to digital tools to recruit and connect to potential clinical trial patients. 

Just last month, clinical trial management tool ClinOne scored $3.6 million in Series A funding for its platform, which works with pharma companies, research groups and clinical trial sites in order to recruit appropriate patients for their trial. 

Other startups looking to help match patient to clinical trials include Deep 6 AI, Clinical Trial Connect, SubjectWell and PatientWing.

Planned Parenthood is expanding its telehealth services to include all 50 states. Patients will be able to tap into the service for some birth control needs, sexually transmitted infection testing, gender-affirming hormone therapy, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), urinary tract infection screen and the morning after pill. 

Select Planned Parenthood health centers are also offering abortion counseling through the telehealth services. The organization is pitching this as a way for patients to get care during the coronavirus. 

“As a provider in New York, these past few months have been the most challenging of my career. My state has seen the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the country and the pandemic has increased barriers to healthcare for many of the communities Planned Parenthood services, people who may not have access to high-quality affordable care from another provider,” Dr. Meera Shah, Chief Medical Officer of Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic, said during a press call this morning. 

“For patients who do not require an in-person visit or require fewer visits, telehealth helps reduce the risk of exposure for COVID-19 for both patients and the healthcare providers and staff, and contributes to community social-distancing efforts.”

Patients are not able to access a medication abortion through telehealth, due to federal and state legislation, according to the agency. However, in some states, portions of this process can be done through telehealth. 

These new efforts largely utilize traditional telehealth software.  

The organization specified that this isn’t an expansion of Planned Parenthood Direction, an app-based telehealth effort that has been progressively rolling out over the last year. While Planned Parenthood Direct is used in this country-wide initiative, this effort generally uses traditional telehealth software.

WHY IT MATTERS 

The organization is pitching this tool as a way to get to its patients, particularly its patients of color and those with low income. Across the country, reports have surfaced that individuals in the black community are seeing higher death rates from the virus than their white counterparts. 

“Right now, the public health crisis is exacerbating the health disparities many communities of color have long faced due to structural and environmental racism, discrimination, and economic inequality. Black and Latinx people are facing significant economic hardship as they are more likely to be low-wage essential workers least likely to be able to telecommute, and are contacting the virus at dangerously high rates. These same communities are in dire need of sexual and reproductive healthcare without further endangering their health.”

THE LARGER TREND

Planned Parenthood is no stranger to the digital space. Its most recent efforts include an abortion-care finder and information platform that it officially launched in November of last year. 

It has also rolled out a virtual-care tool called Planned Parenthood Direct, which allow users to request birth control, get a prescription for a urinary tract infection or request an in-person appointment. On the call this morning, the Planned Parenthood team noted that, while Planned Parenthood Direct may be used as a telehealth delivery model, today’s announcement isn’t an expansion of the app. 

ON THE RECORD

“We’ve seen first-hand the difference direct-to-consumer telehealth can make for patient’s access to health care services. Whether it is having birth control delivered to the Arctic Circle or someone checking in with a doctor on their lunch break to get a prescription,” Alexis McGill Johnson, acting president and CEO, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said on the press call today. “We know that sexual and reproductive services are time sensitive and essential, which is why we are doing all we can to meet the needs of all of our patients.”