The Alliance represents a deliberate shift from industry merger and acquisition trends. Members, under the guidance of their hub leader, rely on their autonomous position to ensure that clinical trial sponsors receive the most unbiased and informed regional recommendations. "BBK’s mutually beneficial and exclusive relationships with these best-in-class, independent companies bring new meaning to 'feet on the street,'" explains Bonnie A. Brescia, founding principal, BBK Worldwide. “Their size, passion, and management style mirrors that of BBK, making our hub leaders as fluid and dedicated to innovation as we are.”

QuoMedic GmbH, a newly formed company derived from medical information technology expert MEDEORA GmbH, and CROèe [1], a contract management organization and healthcare marketing company, are veteran members of the alliance, and are headquartered in Cologne, Germany, and Tokyo, Japan, respectively.

QuoMedic provides an unrivaled physician database deployed for clinical trial feasibility and physician referral initiatives. Created by highly trained medical professionals and scientists, the hub leader also manages and quality controls the cultural adaptation and media planning work of Alliance members throughout Western and Eastern Europe. According to QuoMedic Managing Director Norbert Schmeisser, MD, “Both the volume of work and complexity of the tasks we were assigned by BBK made an expansion of our capabilities a strategic necessity. It became quite clear that we needed to establish a separate entity to focus on recruitment.”

In Japan, CROèe supervises the activities of BBK Osaka, providing not only a robust database of patients in more than 100 disease categories, but also a call center and Web services respected by clinical sites throughout the region.

Southern Star Research Pty. Ltd. [2], a privately owned Australian clinical research organization in greater Sydney, provides the Alliance with an expanded perspective on the intricacies of site management, while the Alliance provides Southern Star’s clinical research associates and project managers with the most comprehensive view of site recruitment initiatives. “In essence, through our work with the BBK Alliance, our CRAs see recruitment as a critical component of their job responsibilities, not an afterthought,” details David Lloyd, PhD, managing director, Southern Star Research.

Jsure Health [3], a dedicated patient recruitment company located in Shanghai and Beijing, has created processes and procedures for Web outreach tactics that elegantly comply with ethics committee standards, while also affording maximum use of online strategies. During Jsure’s tenure, the company’s contribution to the Alliance has increased significantly based in large measure to the fact that the Chinese pharmaceutical industry has grown by approximately 22% annually.

These long-standing Alliance members, chosen for hub leadership, also focus their efforts on bringing increased public understanding of clinical research to the international landscape. In the coming months, the Alliance will launch a series of research initiatives which will support the development of geo-optimized tactics to maximize return-on-investment for clinical trial sponsors.

To learn more, visit shop.BBKWorldwide.com/pages/patient-recruitment-global-alliance. [4]

Autor: Erica Mercado (BBK Worldwide), 20.09.2013

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