Fox Trial Finder Revamped to Help More Enroll in Clinical Trials

To make it easier for Parkinson’s (PD) patients and healthy volunteers to take part in clinical trials, The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) is introducing a redesigned version of its Fox Trial Finder clinical study matching tool.

“At the Foundation, our single urgent goal is to eliminate Parkinson’s disease,” Sohini Chowdhury, MJFF’s deputy CEO, said in a press release. “It will take the efforts of all of us to better connect the millions impacted by the disease worldwide to opportunities that could advance breakthroughs in treatments and ultimately a cure.”

Chowdhury said the new online Fox Trial Finder will help offset the burden of trial recruitment. Due to a lack of volunteers, 85% of clinical studies face delays, and some 30% never get started, she added.

The finder is powered by WCG’s CenterWatch iConnect platform for ease of use. WCG provides services and technologies aimed at improving clinical trial quality and efficiency.

iConnect also lets trial sponsors establish and manage recruitment efforts from one platform, enabling them to gauge each part of each study’s enrollment strategy. The potential result is better predictability and lower outreach costs.

“We are proud to be accelerating research and moving our mission forward to get safer, more effective treatments into the hands of patients living with Parkinson’s disease as efficiently as possible while maintaining the highest quality and ethical research standards,” said Donald A. Deieso, PhD, executive chairman and CEO of WCG. “MJFF’s decision to redesign its new Fox Trial Finder on our iConnect platform will make clinical research much more accessible and easier to navigate for patients and their families.”

Touted as having the world’s most expansive roster of recruiting clinical trials, WCG CenterWatch iConnect is visited monthly by more than 250,000 people seeking information about studies for themselves or others. In addition, the platform falls in the top three of most study-related search results overall.

“MJFF’s Fox Trial Finder has traditionally been one of the gold standards in matching patients to clinical trials,” said Lisa LaLuna, WCG’s senior vice president for patient advocacy. “We are honored to provide MJFF with a more user-friendly version for their Parkinson’s community of patients, families and supporters around the globe.”

Anyone wishing to try the new trial matching tool can go here. At the site, visitors may search for applicable disorders — currently, it reports that 412 Parkinson’s trials are recruiting — and get general information about clinical investigations.

An estimated seven to 10 million individuals globally have Parkinson’s, the most common age-related neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer’s.

The Foundation funds Parkinson’s research with a goal of finding a cure for Parkinson’s, and better therapies until then.