Features of Study Feasibility Technology

Kathy Cox and Ryan Johnsen of Interspond discuss how their platform CROWN is reshaping the study feasibility process for clinical research sites. Rather than sites waiting to be contacted, CROWN puts the power in their hands with a web-based marketplace where they can browse opportunities, manage their profile, and respond to time-sensitive requests all in one place. The result is a smarter, less disruptive feasibility experience built with sites at the center. 

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Jimmy Bechtel 0:00

Hello, and welcome to SCRS Talks, provided by the Society for Clinical Research Sites. I'm Jimmy Bechtel, the chief site success officer with the Society, and today I'm joined by Kathy Cox and Ryan Johnsen. Kathy is the president and Ryan is the chief technology officer with an organization that's been along the journey with SCRS for many years now, Interspond. And Interspond, Kathy and Ryan, are here to talk with us about feasibility and that process, and how technology can really be a tool to help support that process as we move into the future. But before we get into that discussion, Kathy, I'll start with you, and then Ryan, if you wouldn't mind as well. Love to learn a little bit more about each of you and of course, a little bit more about Interspond.

Kathy Cox 0:43

Thank you for that, Jimmy. I'm very happy to be here, and thank you for this opportunity. I recently celebrated 30 years of running my own business in the industry, specifically, focusing on, identifying study opportunities for sites' participation and honing the process of study feasibility. And I'm really excited to talk today about kind of our new product that we've been developing over the last couple three years

Ryan Johnsen 1:07

Thanks also, Jimmy. I'm glad to be here. my background is in the technology space. I've been in enterprise systems, business analysis, with companies like Target and HP, and American Family Insurance. this is my first job in the clinical research space, but I bring quite a bit of knowledge in the technology space, which married up very nicely with Kathy's experience in the clinical research industry.

Jimmy Bechtel 1:33

it sounds like a match made in heaven to try to solve some of the challenges that we have. And it's always cool, Ryan, and Kathy, to bring in individuals from other industries to bring that different perspective. So I'm excited to hear and see, here in the short term exactly what you guys are doing there. So, you know, i- feasibility, jumping in here, there's a lot of engagement around technology that can support this space right now. Can you walk us through what's out there in the industry and how sites are really engaging with, what's available to them today?

Kathy Cox 2:03

Well, I'll tell you what we're seeing, Jimmy, is that CROs and sponsors are obviously embracing the idea that there's a need for technology, not just in study feasibility, but in all aspects of the clinical trial landscape. And so because this is our focus, really the study feasibility is our focus, we are seeing that sponsors and CROs are starting to develop their own product. Perhaps they're licensing out some products that are out there. And honestly, the sites seem to be engaged and eager to use this technology because historically this whole process has been a disruption to their day. And, and we'll talk about that in a little bit. I wanna get Ryan's thoughts on this here.

Ryan Johnsen 2:45

Yeah. Absolutely. Our theory was to bring a marketplace to the industry, somewhere that a site can go pull different study trials, and get all the information on their own as opposed to having to be pushed all that information. So, we're really kind of putting some of the power back in the site's hands by allowing them to go get what they need to do the research and find out if they're gonna be a good fit in this feasibility process.

Jimmy Bechtel 3:11

Well, what a concept, right, guys? Because you're exactly right. It's always been this sort of sites on the receiving end of the work, and no one's really made this a site-centric process. So I'm excited to talk about, you know, how we've, flipped this process on its head and been a site, moving from that model into one where sites are actively, engaging in potential opportunities that fit their needs. For those listeners that maybe haven't seen something like this in action, can you, Kathy, maybe start us off here and break down how this technology works from the point in which a study opportunity comes in to when a site might make some sort of decision on it. Maybe the sort of the first step of how this would work.

Kathy Cox 3:50

Sure, I'm happy to, Jimmy. And as I mentioned previously, our whole focus is on study opportunities, doing centralized business development for sites. And over the years, literally 30 years, I've gone from faxing paper, FQs to sites to now building. We built this from scratch, this technology, and it's totally focused on making it very simple at the site level. So what they do is they initially build out their site profile, tell us all about them. And the beauty of this is that once they tell us this, we capture it, it's in a database, and they don't have to keep answering the same questions over and over and over again. We wanted to make it so user-friendly. When we get study opportunities, we'll post that information in the marketplace, include the inclusion criteria. Of course, keeping anything confidential, as required by our client. And then giving the sites the opportunity to review it and interact and say, "Yes, this looks like a really good fit for me. I'm interested in this study opportunity." And they can engage all the way through the system until we think, "Okay, you're a good fit for this. We're gonna submit you to the client for consideration," and ultimate goal is to get them selected on the trial.

Ryan Johnsen 4:58

Yeah. and, the interesting thing is, as a technology person, I find that putting a technology on top of a process that's been built for 30 years is gotta be one of the most enjoyable experiences I've ever had because it was easy. We have a team in place to do everything, and that team still sits there today. The technology piece that's been built is really the communication hub between the site and our team, and then eventually to the sponsors. So that go-between has gotten a lot easier. We really get technology out of the way so that the process can flow as smoothly as possible.

Jimmy Bechtel 5:36

Well, you both said a lot of the right things and music to my ears, and I'm sure music to a lot of the other sites', that are listening ears as well. When we talk about, Kathy the sort of the simplified process and then only having to do things one time, and maybe keeping those records, that information, that database updated. But not having to ask or answer the same questions over, and over, and over again. and, and Ryan, to your point, right? Implementing technology at a place where it's, it's eas- easy to use, and it makes sense, and it's iterative onto the process. It enhances the process, as opposed to layers technology on top of it for the sake of layering. you've heard it, again, probably speaking to the testament of the audience that you have been around so much, having been so involved in the SCRS community, and having such a presence with us. I'm sure that influenced exactly, the direction that you guys are taking what you're doing here. So it's great to hear again, hearing some of those. those keywords just make me smile here on the other end of the line.

Kathy Cox 6:30

I have to tell you honestly, Jimmy, it was very easy for us to develop this whole marketplace, as we call it. It's web-based. It's interactive. we call it CROWN as an acronym. It stands for Clinical Research Opportunities When Needed, And it was very simple because this is where we live, and this is what we do every day, and we were keeping the sites in mind. We want it to be as user-friendly as possible, and we even created a mobile app so that when the site directors or coordinators or the PIs are away from their desktop, they'll get pinged with a notification when a study comes up that's a good fit for them based on their profile, and they can immediately respond to it seamlessly, and it's not a major disruption in their day

Jimmy Bechtel 7:10

Again, uh, keep singing, Kathy, right? I mean, the fact that it isn't disruptive and that it is... it's conducive to their workflows, and again, it's, it sounds exactly like you guys have actually listened to the sites as you've developed this- which is incredible. So, I wanna say thank you on behalf of the site community for that. But, Kathy, from a site perspective then, continuing that concept, what does the feasibility process look like day to day? Maybe dig into how the sites might be interacting with this and using it and how has that technology started to change that experience for the better.

Kathy Cox 7:42

what we're finding, Jimmy, is that sites may open the browser to start the day and keep it open throughout the day, minimize it on their desktop or what have you. And like I say, when a study opportunity comes in that's a good fit for their profile, it will notify them, Send an email, if I'm correct, Ryan. Yep. or it'll put up a badge number as to how many opportunities there may be, and they can go and interact with it, and they can completely dismiss it if they're not interested, or then they can click, "I'm interested," and then continue through the process. Because oftentimes, as you well know, Jimmy the feasibility process is very time sensitive. We might have a 48-hour turnaround time.

Jimmy Bechtel 8:19

Absolutely.

Kathy Cox 8:20

And we need these answers right away. So we're just tapping into the technology that's available that enables us to do this so that ultimately the sponsors can get their sites selected and start enrolling subjects as quickly as possible.

Jimmy Bechtel 8:35

Well, and Kathy, it's oftentimes, You know, Ryan, I'd love your perspective on this as well and, from a technology perspective. But oftentimes we're see... It's, it's kind of a first come, first served. So anytime- that we can rapidly, inform the sites, "Hey, there's, there's an action that you need to take in whatever form," I think, to your point, the better off we are.

Ryan Johnsen 8:53

Yeah, absolutely. And I think the other thing that we found that we were able to do is because we have all of this information in one place, we've been able to eliminate, you know, some of these sites' spreadsheets that they've got going on, We've kind of got it all in a organized My Studies type, section where they can go and s- relive all that information if they need to reference it, see where they're at. When they have actions due, it comes up to the top of their list so that they make sure that they, they're never tardy on anything that's, time sensitive.

Jimmy Bechtel 9:23

Yeah. Again, really, really excellent. And, those reminders and that, that rapid ability to respond and provide information we know sites are all about. That's it's great to hear that the platform, enables that. The ecosystem, the marketplace enables that for them. That's excellent. So wanting to begin to wrap this up here, I think we're getting a really great sense for the opportunity. I think it's excellent that something now exists in the ecosystem that can help sites in here. And, thinking into the future maybe, Kathy, as technology in this feasibility space continues to evolve, what impact do you hope that it will have on sites and the broader ecosystem over the next few years?

Kathy Cox 10:00

Oh my gosh, Jimmy. That's what's so exciting about this because we're just scratching the surface, obviously. It's been three years now since we built out Crown, and we continue to add on and enhance the, functionality of it. And we're looking into the future of the new technologies that'll continue to enable us to enhance this, specifically AI, although cautiously. And it's just gonna continue to get better and more efficient, keeping in mind the end user and how we can make their daily lives easier, but also help ensure for the sponsor that we can help get the right site selected for the right study. Because kind of at the end of the day, it's all data driven. Wouldn't you agree, Ryan?

Ryan Johnsen 10:42

Yeah. I think you really nailed it. We have so much great data and information that we now use to help make the best recommendations possible. The sponsors are getting the best sites, that they can. That's really the goal of all of this, and making sure those opportunities land at those sites that sometimes wouldn't see 'em. How do we reach more, how do we cover more of the territories that we're covering? How do we, how do we make sure that some of those smaller sites have the opportunities? those are all things that we hope to help move the needle on.

Jimmy Bechtel 11:15

That's great to hear. So it's kind of an expansion, Kathy, to your point, in the product offering itself, and the features and what it can do. But Ryan, also the reach that you have and being able to provide this opportunity to sites of all different shapes and sizes at scale. And, we think about things globally when we're in this industry. So both of those points I think are really important and great to hear and really a great place for us to, begin to conclude the conversation here. So thank you both. Really excited to hear about this, and I think a lot of the members of our site community, and sponsor and CRO community likely will be enthusiastic about opportunities like this as well. So, they now know who they need to find at our upcoming SCRS events, as you guys are frequent, exhibitors and sponsors with SCRS. So if anyone's wanting to, uh, engage with the team here, look for them at one of our upcoming SCRS events.

Kathy Cox 12:08

Yes. Thank you so much for that, Jimmy. We as always appreciate everything that you do and your whole team at SCRS, and we do look forward to seeing you at the next event. As you mentioned, we will be exhibiting, so please stop at our booth.

Ryan Johnsen 12:20

Always a pleasure. Thanks so much, Jimmy.

Jimmy Bechtel 12:22

Well, and again, thank you both. And for those that are listening, we look forward to continuing discussions like this, highlighting other important pieces of information and industry-changing initiatives through other avenues within SCRS, like our other site-facing publications as well as our events. All of that available on myscrs.org. Looking forward to more conversations in the future, but for now, thanks for listening, tuning in, and until next time.