Quick thinking

Panthera Biopartners shares its strategy for making local mean more when it comes to patient recruitment and retention in pivotal clinical trials

The site management organisation (SMO) Panthera Biopartners is able to recruit thousands of engaged patients to clinical trials at its trial sites in the UK and Western Europe very quickly.

Set up in 2019 by the founder of Synexus, Dr Ian Smith and Covance ex-VP Professor John Lyon, to professionalise what was an otherwise opportunistic endeavour, the founders already had established relationships with clinical research organisations (CROs) and pharma.

Reliance on networks will only take a company so far, however. The ‘secret sauce’ to Panthera’s modern approach to site management is community.

“We’re very embedded within the local healthcare landscape,” explained CEO Stuart Young, himself a Synexus alumnus, with 12 years of experience at his predecessor company. “It’s very important to us that we are seen as part of a healthcare pathway for patients, particularly at a time when getting to see a GP is difficult or they end up sitting on the waiting list.”

Many of Panthera’s clinical trial sites are in major hospitals, oncology specialist centres and large primary care practices which not only provide access to their considerable patient bases but also on-site access to biopsies, all types of screening and other support services.

Patients please

Gone are the days of writing to patients through their GP or placing an adhoc newspaper or radio advert. Targeted recruitment through push notifications via social media channels is the norm in 2022, a method also engaged by Panthera.

The SMO’s heritage of working with primary care providers, however, is still a pivotal access route to find patients that has evolved with experience. Those patients that come from primary care providers today are prepared, engaged, empowered and come with a trusted referral because of those embedded links to the local community.

The diaspora of healthcare partners such as secondary care providers, pharmacists and community care providers increasingly play into this neighbourhood dynamic.
“Most patients don’t get half an hour with a clinician very often,” explains Stuart. “We professionalise the next stage, which is going from that first conversation to the consent, and randomisation.”

Every stage of the funnel is subject to the specialist expertise, for example those that are speaking to would-be patient in the contact centre have a very different skill set and training from the person doing the face-to-face interview with the patient.

Stuart adds: “If we get the training right, then we really can make sure that the patient’s got the best possible chance to take part. That’s one thing. And that obviously helps with retention as well, because again, we’re giving them that time and focus.”

Days of reckoning

Panthera has access to very experienced investigators across its areas of expertise – general medicine, respiratory, oncology, neurology, vaccines and NASH, an infamously tricky trial space.

63-year-old Malcolm Evans was recruited into a clinical study by Panthera to investigate a potential new drug to alleviate knee pain associated with osteoarthritis. After suffering with knee pain for several years, Evans knew something was wrong and suspected that he may have osteoarthritis due to his family history.

He did not have a confirmed diagnosis, however, and continued to struggle with the pain. With his knee pain becoming progressively worse, one of Evan’s colleagues passed on information about the Panthera trial.

“I registered my interest in the study and had to undergo a series of extensive tests to see if I was eligible to take part in the study. I had a full MOT without spending a penny, it was fantastic. I had X-rays and MRI scans on my knees, hips and shoulders, ECGs and blood tests. I then received the diagnosis of osteoarthritis. After years of pain and uncertainty I finally knew what was wrong with me,” he recalls.

Having met the study criteria, Malcolm was enrolled and began a regimen of two injections at each visit to the clinic every two weeks for 12 weeks.

Post-COVID extended NHS waiting lists have certainly helped companies like Panthera’s benefit proposal to potential patients.

Due to backlogs and the inability, oftentimes, to see a doctor in person, patients are motivated by taking part in a trial as an option to receive a health check. Commercially, Young confirms, the impact of COVID and the backlog of patients is that unfortunately the NHS doesn’t just see fewer patients, it also has less capacity to take part in research.

“That frustrates clinicians, sponsors and the whole industry that wants to see the UK put forward as a hub for research,” Ian Smith, founder of Panthera, reflects. “Panthera offers research opportunity sites in cancer, oncology, hepatology, neurology and early Alzheimer’s.”

“That’s unusual in the SMO space, and that’s because we worked very closely with NHS clinicians very regularly. And we have a specialist group of people that work with us. So that backlog is having a very, very wide-ranging impact, both felt on patient appetite, but also on the commercial need for customers to work with people like us, where traditionally they may have looked at an NHS setting,” he concludes.

A changing environment

Not only are patients taking part in clinical trials for themselves, but increasingly for altruistic reasons, another ripple from the post-COVID landscape. Roy and Joan Shaw took part in a COVID-19 vaccination study at Panthera’s Preston hub.

They had both received a letter to explain they had qualified for the study and couldn’t wait to get started. “We wanted to play our part in the fight against COVID,” says Joan Shaw. “We wanted to do anything we could to help.”

Roy Shaw is no stranger to clinical research having taken part in clinical studies in the past, he explained that the pair completed a questionnaire; had blood tests, and discussed pre-existing conditions and ongoing medication.

“Panthera’s Preston clinic is in the same building as our GP, so we knew where we were going,” reflects Joan. “The clinic was nice and modern, and all our appointments were on time. There were stringent social distancing measures in place, so we always felt safe”.

Roy Shaw is already in discussion about taking part in a COPD trial. “We would urge anyone to consider taking part in clinical studies as we should do all we can to help medical research and the health of future generations,” he says.

The decentralisation of the clinical trial arena is an evolution of the clinical study model that Panthera’s management is expecting and readying for. Hydridisation of the trial arena, more remote consultations and consenting are already available.
Panthera is now looking to replicate its proven model across more sites in Europe. Times are changing and so are patients.

Stuart Young is CEO at Panthera. Go to panthera-bio.com