Pharmaceutical companies are turning to social networking Web sites to recruit clinical trial participants, Newsweek reports.
Social networking sites aimed at people with serious or chronic diseases -- such as Inspire.com and PatientsLikeMe.com -- provide pharmaceutical companies with easy access to engaged patients with specific medical conditions.
Drug companies' use of social networking sites could help address the challenge of recruitment in medical research. According to Newsweek, 80% of the approximately 50,000 clinical trials under way in the U.S. are delayed at least a month because of low enrollment.
However, some argue that targeting patients online for clinical trial research raises ethical and medical issues.
Diane Colaizzi, a spokesperson for the Coalition of Cancer Cooperative Groups, said cancer patients should be aware of all of their treatment options, not just a few clinical trials that are being promoted online. She added that it is unclear whether patients will be able to discern the quality of clinical trial information they find on social networking sites.
In addition, there are concerns about the reliability of data from clinical trials where the participants might be communicating with each other online.
Despite concerns, recruitment for clinical trials on social networking Web sites is expected to increase, Newsweek reports (Kliff, Newsweek, 3/10).
Studying Physician Behavior Online
In related news, pharmaceutical companies are purchasing access to physician social networking Web sites, Newsweek reports.
Sermo and WebMD's Medscape Physician Connect make money by giving drugmakers access to physicians' online discussions.
"These people who are on here are very aggressive and high-prescribing physicians, which makes them very valuable to the pharma community," Erika Fishman, director of research at Manhattan Research, said (Vox, Newsweek, 3/10).