Parexel and Signify Health Collaborating to Develop New Solutions to Promote Access and Inclusion in Clinical Trials

Companies partnering to reduce social determinants of health barriers to clinical trial enrollment

BOSTON, DURHAM, N.C. and DALLAS, Jan. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Parexel and Signify Health today announced a strategic collaboration to provide customers with new solutions to enable access to a more diverse and traditionally underrepresented population for their clinical trials. The partnership will focus on improving patient access to clinical trials, bringing studies to patients in their own homes, and identifying relevant social determinants of health (SDoH) to facilitate connections among local resources, patients, and caregivers.

“Simply saying clinical trial diversity is ‘important’ is not enough,” said Peyton Howell, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial & Strategy Officer for Parexel. “To correct the disparities in healthcare and drive more inclusion in clinical trials, we first must achieve a more holistic understanding of the non-medical factors that influence patient lives. Signify Health’s analytics and technology platform will enable us to use these insights to better understand the social and societal factors impacting inclusion — a key requirement to ensuring diversity in clinical trials.”

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live and age, and the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life^[1]. These determinants include all aspects of a person’s life including socioeconomic status, level of education, housing and employment status, physical environment, social support networks, and access to healthcare. For those considering participating in a clinical trial, issues such as limited availability for assessment tests, limited mobility, and lack of reliable dependent care are examples of the social factors that can make participating in a clinical trial difficult for a patient and the caregiver they rely upon. The collaboration between Parexel and Signify Health is intended to penetrate these barriers to entry.

“Through our mobile, national network of providers, we already have activated the home as an alternative site for baseline patient assessments and first dose observation for specialty drugs,” said Kyle Armbrester, CEO, Signify Health. “Alongside this clinical support, we are identifying and addressing the social comorbidities that impact a person’s ability to access the care they need. It is particularly exciting to be working with Parexel on ways to leverage these capabilities to support both patients, and their caregivers, who want to participate in clinical trial programs for potentially life-changing therapies.”

Over the coming months, the companies will explore opportunities to address social determinants of health issues as part of the clinical trials recruitment and management processes with the intention of initiating their first pilot program during the first half of 2021. For more information, please reach out to us at info@parexel.com.

About Parexel
Parexel supports the development of innovative new medicines to improve the health of patients. We provide services to help life science and biopharmaceutical clients everywhere transform scientific discoveries into new treatments. From clinical trials to regulatory and consulting services to commercial and market access, our therapeutic, technical and functional ability is underpinned by a deep conviction in what we do. Parexel was named “Best Contract Research Organization” in December 2020 by an independent panel for Informa Pharma Intelligence. For more information, visit our website and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.

About Signify Health
Signify Health is a leading healthcare platform that leverages advanced analytics, technology, and nationwide healthcare provider networks to create and power value-based payment programs. Our mission is to transform how care is paid for and delivered so that people can enjoy more healthy, happy days at home. Our solutions support value-based payment programs by aligning financial incentives around outcomes, providing tools to health plans and healthcare organizations designed to assess and manage risk and identify actionable opportunities for improved patient outcomes, coordination and cost-savings. Through our platform, we coordinate what we believe is a holistic suite of clinical, social, and behavioral services to address an individual’s healthcare needs and prevent adverse events that drive excess cost, all while shifting services towards the home. For more information on how we are taking health homeward, visit us at signifyhealth.com.

CONTACTS:
Parexel
Lori Dorer
+1 978 495 4135
lori.dorer@parexel.com 

W2O
Lindsay LeCain
+1 508 259 9521
parexelpr@w2ogroup.com 

Signify Health
Lynn Shepherd
610.613.7263
lshepherd@signifyhealth.com 

[1] World Health Organization (WHO), Social Determinants of Health. https://www.who.int/teams/social-determinants-of-health. Accessed 10/29/2020.