BBK Worldwide has appointed Toshio Mori to Managing Director of Operations, Japan. Mori will lead business development and help drive sales and marketing in Japan, and will report to BBK Principal, Global Resources Steven Fleishman. Mori is also responsible for establishing and growing the company’s new Japan office, based in Tokyo. 

Mori brings more than 25 years of pharmaceutical and medical device experience to the role. Before BBK, Mori established and then led operations at Japan-based Candela KK, a subsidiary of Syneron-Candela, a global market leader in the aesthetic medical device marketplace. Earlier in his career, he held senior sales and marketing positions at Sansui Electronic Co.  
“Toshio’s expertise across a broad set of disease areas – from cancer to neurological disorders – combined with his established leadership among physicians and study investigators will help us further extend our global reach and support the increased demand for clinical research in Japan,” said Fleishman. “We remain committed to expanding our support in Japan, and are happy to be entering this new phase of growth with Toshio’s support.” 

“I was drawn to BBK for its leadership in patient recruitment and engagement, as well as its commitment to patient centricity and diversity,” said Mori. “I’m pleased to be joining the distinguished team and look forward to advancing the company’s work in Japan.” 
With deep experience across many multinational patient recruitment and retention campaigns, BBK has worked with eight of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies in Japan, since opening its original Japan office in Osaka. The company’s recruitment and engagement software solutions, consulting services and integrated cloud-based infrastructure supports proactive contingency action planning through access to real-time recruitment data tracking and management, and offers critical interfaces for referral management and enrollment reporting for Japan audiences.

[August 2015] Article: BBK Worldwide Opens Tokyo Office

BBK Worldwide, a leading clinical trial marketing firm, today announced the availability of RSG® Arrive, a full-service concierge program created to more fully support clinical trial patients and operationalize travel for pharmaceutical companies, especially important for rare disease studies where recruitment of patients extends well beyond the area of the site, often in different countries. The latest offering within the company’s RSG® Suite of engagement services, RSG Arrive leverages industry best practices to offer streamlined adherence and workflows, all at a reduced cost. The program has been implemented across several global studies, and sponsor and patient feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. 

Designed to optimize the millions of dollars spent on study-related care annually and support the demands inherent in today’s growing personalized approach to research, RSG Arrive manages all travel-related logistics – operational and financial – for trial patients and sites. From car and shuttle booking, to international flight and accommodation management, RSG Arrive ensures that patients get to and from study visits as simply and seamlessly as possible; removing what can be a heavy burden for study patients and the study teams supporting them. RSG Arrive can also provide complementary services for patients requiring additional support, as well as offer sponsors a turn-key solution to streamline retention efforts at the site level.  

“With few to no options available to them, those suffering from the most devastating of illnesses are often unable to participate in clinical research because the few highly specialized physician investigators are simply too far away,” said Jaime Cohen, strategic consultation and research, BBK Worldwide. “The goal is two-fold – to ensure that patients participating in clinical trials have the support they need, and to remove what can be a primary and costly – and ultimately unnecessary – study enrollment barrier.” 

[June 2015] Article: BBK Worldwide Launches Full-Service Patient Travel Program

Nearly 40% of sites fail to meet their enrollment targets and, as a result, study timelines often end up doubling. BBK World- wide’s My Protocol Pal, launched in June 2014, helps ensure that a study is top of mind for site staff. The mobile app and cloud-based content management and engagement platform is a prescreening app that is customizable for site-specific, de-identified reporting to determine patient eligibility. It is designed to help sponsors keep sites on track by delivering key study information, tactics, and strategy so that enrollment goals can be met. The app can adapt for each protocol, making sure that eligibility requirements, schedules of activities, timing of procedures, laboratory guidelines, and study flowcharts are readily available when and where site staff need it — whether on a smartphone or tablet.

Additionally, through real-time reporting and analysis, sponsors know how each site is performing at all times and are alerted to issues such as high screen failure percentages, which if not addressed quickly will have a major impact on the study as a whole.

The Protocol Pal app is built on an intuitive cloud-based communications platform designed specifically for global studies and developed to integrate study implementation into daily  activities.

[June 2015] Article: BBK’s Patient Enrollment App

BOSTON - Established more than a decade ago as a think tank for global enrollment strategies, the BBK Worldwide (BBK) Patient Recruitment Global Alliance has grown to represent more than 50 companies around the world. These companies work in collaboration to support the R&D industry with clinical trial recruitment and retention services. Alliance founder BBK announces the creation of regional hub leaders to further enhance its ability to evaluate and train international consulting companies in the marketing dicipline of patient recruitment, a neccessary step to ensure culturally relevant and seamlessly integrated global offerings.

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, 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 scientist, the hub leader also manages and quality controls the cultural adaption 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 established 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., 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, 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.

Founded in 1983, BBK Worldwide is the recognized global leader in patient recruitment. The company is renowned for accelerating time to market for new and improved medicines and treatments. Through its partner companies, TCN Technologies and Agency320, BBK offers the industry the most sophisticated technology, creative, and media services. BBK meets accreditation standards of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) and is certified as a Safe Harbor company.

About the Patient Recruitment Global Alliance Comprised of vetted, trained, and the most experienced clinical trial communications and technology companies in the world, the Patient Recruitment Global Alliance provides clinical research professionals with unparalleled recruitment and retention solutions uniquely suited to meet the demands of today’s complex multinational enrollment challenges. Founded by BBK Worldwide, the Alliance includes partner companies that serve as regional hub leaders, as well as member firms offering functional- or country-specific resources.

[September 2013] Article: BBK Worldwide announces the formation of regional "HUB" leaders