JSPH, Worldwide Clinical Trials partner to meet demands of healthcare reform

Worldwide Clinical Trials Inc., a leading, global provider of clinical research services, and Thomas Jefferson University's School of Population Health (JSPH), under the direction of David B. Nash, MD, MBA, today announced that they have entered into an alliance to provide pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients with a broad range of outcomes research services including comparative effectiveness, burden of illness, and quality of life studies. The alliance couples Worldwide Clinical Trials' unparalleled operational and medical expertise with JSPH's academic leadership in the field of economic evaluation of health care interventions.

"We are very pleased to be working with Dr. Nash and his team and to offer our clients the highest standards in industry-sponsored clinical research," said Mike Murphy, MD, PhD, Chief Medical and Scientific Officer of Worldwide Clinical Trials. "To my knowledge, this alliance is the first of its kind, representing a visionary approach that integrates methodological rigor across a suite of services and joins highly complementary teams to preemptively address the needs of all healthcare constituents."

"This is the type of research that clinicians will need in order to improve the quality of clinical care," said Dr. Nash. "The School of Population Health's alliance with Worldwide Clinical Trials is critical and could not come at a better time. The evidence is overwhelming that autonomous decision-making without a solid evidentiary basis leads to waste and a propensity for medical error. The nation cannot afford to continue along this old line of thinking."

Historically, clinical development plans have focused on regulatory requirements for demonstrating efficacy, tolerability and safety. Less emphasis has been placed during the pre-registration period on designing clinical programs to provide a data platform that addresses healthcare outcomes, quality-of-life initiatives, direct medical costs, and indirect costs (lost productivity). In the current healthcare environment, it is imperative to incorporate the perspective of multiple stakeholders into the clinical development process from its inception. Program design viewed through the prism of an expanded healthcare audience will facilitate informed health technologies assessments, formulary placement decisions, and algorithms for reimbursement-- addressing issues of cost, quality, and patient access within a clinical, business, and regulatory environment.