Clinical Research Alliance teams with OBH Brookdale in New York for clinical trial partnership

Clinical Research Alliance, a division of Optimus Healthcare Services, is expanding patient access and turnkey solutions for all stages of pharmaceutical and clinical trials in New York through a new hospital partnership. CRA and Brookdale Hospital, part of One Brooklyn Health System, will focus on improving cancer treatment modalities and access for residents of central and northeast Brooklyn. 

CRA is focused on providing clinical trials to underserved communities and diverse populations and assists hospitals and physicians in introducing new services that provide clinical trials to combat cancer. Together, CRA and OBH Brookdale will offer clinical trials for breast and pancreatic cancer patients as well as supportive and palliative care. 

"The partnership between One Brooklyn Health physician's medical expertise and CRA's knowledge of conducting clinical trials will bring advanced treatment opportunities to our patients,” said Dr. Sandra Scott, executive director of OBH Brookdale Hospital. ”CRA will identify clinical trials, provide support to OBH Brookdale, and manage participation for our community. Working together, these trials administered by OBH physicians will ultimately improve our patient's health." 

Clinical trials are often challenged to include participants who appropriately represent the people most affected by a particular disease. Historically, clinical trials often relied on specific cohorts, which can create gaps in our understanding of diseases and create barriers for certain groups to access cutting-edge treatment. Individuals can be underrepresented in clinical research and have less access to state-of-the-art treatments based on their age, race or ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual identity, culture, socioeconomic status, ability, mobility, and geographic location.

In the United States, racial and ethnic minorities make up about 39% of the population but clinical trial participation is estimated to range from 2% to 16% for these groups. Other groups can also lack representation in clinical trials. For example, Americans living in urban areas are 3.56 times more likely to have an available clinical trial for cancer compared to rural residents, even though 20% of Americans live in rural areas.  And while women make up 49% of clinical trial participants, they are still dramatically underrepresented in research on several diseases, according to an analysis of 13,000 FDA clinical trials. Issues with clinical trial participation extend to other groups, too. 

According to the National Institutes of Health, many healthcare systems and epidemiological surveys don’t ask questions inclusive of sexual and gender minorities in clinical trials, resulting in fewer treatment opportunities for these populations. 

To date, CRA has participated in approximately 200 decentralized clinical trials that have provided access to hundreds of patients. CRA has multiple research sites throughout the New York metropolitan area and continues to expand its list of participating physicians and locations daily. CRA offers clinical research solutions for hospitals, physicians and patients that provide the convenience of staying local and serving underserved communities and their diverse populations. 

These partnerships give patients, some with life-threatening diseases, an opportunity to enroll in a clinical trial employing new, innovative treatment therapies while remaining in their communities.

"We are proud of the relationship we have established with OBH Brookdale. Their commitment to providing the best patient care available is fully aligned with the goals and objectives of CRA. We hope that this partnership becomes the standard for many hospitals and communities around the United States," said John Sganga, CEO and president of CRA.

See the full press release from ACCESSWIRE here, published Jan. 23, 2023.

John Sganga has more than 30 years of healthcare strategy expertise and has been leading the charge with innovative solutions and new approaches to challenges that everyday healthcare providers and patients face. He has served as President, CEO, SVP, and Senior Advisor in previous roles at nationally recognized healthcare, technology, and financial organizations. 

CRA enables access to clinical research making it easier for patients and providers to participate and accelerating the development of new and innovative cancer treatments that impact patient lives. By providing state-of-the-art clinical research in a community setting, CRA also makes clinical research more accessible to underserved populations that enable faster enrollment, better retention and a patient population that is representative of real-world populations. 
For more information, visit www.clinicalresearchalliance.org.
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