CVS Health has announced a partnership with Medable, a software company with a focus on decentralized clinical trials, in an effort to bring late-stage clinical trials to patients who are historically underrepresented.
Medable, based out of Palo Alto, California, is focused on bringing clinical trials to more patients using the company’s proprietary technology. Medable’s partnership with CVS, who claims that over 40% of vulnerable populations live within five miles of a CVS, will allow Medable to expand its reach and bring stage 3/4 clinical trials to patients. Medable will deliver studies to patients at designated MinuteClinic locations, at patients’ homes and virtually.
Although clinical trials are crucial to the research and development of therapeutics, less than 4% of Americans participate in them. Minorities specifically tend to be significantly underrepresented, according to CVS.
“Practical applications of Medable technology with the reach and experience of CVS Health gives us an opportunity to harness this time of change and respond differently to unmet needs in local communities,” said Sans Thakur, chief growth officer at Medable.
CVS is trying to intensify its efforts to reach populations that have been underrepresented in research efforts, including patients with chronic illnesses, said Tony Clapsis, general manager and senior vice president of CVS Health Clinical Trials Services (CTS).
The relationship between the two will be managed by the CTS who helped engage more than 300,000 volunteers in a clinical trial for the COVID-19 vaccine.
