Fintech Company Greenphire wants to make clinical trials more representative of every person, from all backgrounds and abilities

Clinical trial company Greenphire describes itself on its website as “the leading provider of global clinical trial financial lifecycle management solutions, delivering the most complete data and workflow automation from budgeting to analytics to drive unparalleled business insights and smarter trials.”

Founded in 2008, Greenphire is headquartered in King Of Prussia, Pennsylvania. In August this year, they were named to The Inc 5000’s list of fastest growing companies.

Jaleeysa King is a senior data analyst at Greenphire. She is co-chair of the company’s All In Diversity committee. DEI is a topic close to Greenphire’s and King’s hearts, as both work to make clinical trials more representative of a wider range of people socially. As it stands, clinical trials are not nearly as diverse as they should be, especially for marginalized and underrepresented groups – and that certainly includes members of the disabled community.

“Clinical trials currently do not adequately represent the full spectrum of the population affected by the disease being studied. Clinical trials have historically lacked data for ethnic minority populations,” King said last month in an email interview. “This is an issue that affects each one of us. Lack of diversity in clinical trials corresponds to a lack of nuanced understanding of the treatments being tested. Diversity is not just limited to those from these historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, but also people with disabilities, older adults, the LGBTQIA+ community, and those who are pregnant or breastfeeding. We cannot guarantee the safety and efficacy of a drug/treatment that has excluded these populations from the study. Diverse communities deserve and need to be represented in clinical trials.”

To underscore the issue, King cited 2020 statistics in which the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported that three-quarters of clinical trial participants identified as White out of a group of 32,000. Only 11% identified as Hispanic, along with 6%, respectively and 8% Asian and Black. King attributed the skew in the numbers to what she called a “deep-seeded distrust” of the American health care system, which she said is understandable given the history’s perception and subsequent treatment of marginalized communities. “There is no one-size-fits-all solution to rebuilding trust in these communities. It is important that we address the unconscious and conscious bias that applies to certain groups,” King said. “There is often a lack of awareness about the clinical trials that are being conducted. Individuals cannot participate in something they have no knowledge of. The third and most critical barrier is access. It is often found that the financial and logistical burdens turn out to be too great for the participant to bear. Time off from work, more clinic visits and lack of transport are a few important barriers that place a financial burden on the participants and their carer.”

As for the role of technology in remediation, King was keen to clarify that there is no magic bullet – technology alone cannot be “a quick fix” for the lack of diversity in clinical trials. However, technology can be used as a tool to “move the needle in the right direction,” she said. As it did in so many industries, King told me that the pandemic spurred much of the heightened awareness of the lack of diversity here. The pandemic forced trial runners to become more flexible with how they administered trials and, more pertinently, who they invited to participate.

“The industry was able to be more flexible with participants, and there was an increase in non-standard practices such as remote visits, home health visits and the use of local laboratories. With all the innovative changes that have been made in trial design, technology can be used to to standardize, streamline and speed up many manual clinical trial processes,” King said. Like fintech [financial technology] company, we strive to find the most efficient way to provide payments to participants and websites globally. Using a payment tool that can be integrated with data providers, it allows for data-triggered site and participant payments. This means that as soon as the necessary actions are completed, both the website and the participant receive payments [that sites] has historically had the task of keeping.”

As for Greenphire’s technology, King said its ConneX and ClinCard products help make trials more accessible to everyone. The former is intended to assist site administrators in coordinating travel services for participants, while the latter is designed to use prepaid debit cards for payment and/or reimbursement funds.

“Using these technologies, sponsors and sites can ease the financial and logistical burdens [of] the participants. No eligible participant should be unable to participate in a clinical trial because they cannot afford the costs incurred as a result of the study,” King said of Greenphire’s tools. “New guidance issued by the FDA suggests that sponsors develop a plan, which may include offering financial reimbursement to participants for these expenses incurred. This affects not only clinical trial participants but also their caregivers. In this industry, we have the power to be innovative and explore new techniques to improve trial representation through technology, as well as build trust with communities that have been alienated in the past.”

King believes trials can and should include members of the disabled. In addition to making trials as representative as possible, it makes complete practical sense to include disabled people in clinical trials, as many rely on various medications to manage their condition(s). “[The] The only way to ensure safe and fair care is to have representation from all groups affected by the disease,” said King. “People who are disabled represent a wide range of conditions, and it is especially important for this population to ensure access. providing appropriate transportation to a clinical trial clinic is necessary to attend a visit, or the ability to participate from home via televised visit may increase opportunities for those with specialized requirements to participate in clinical research.”

Looking to the future, King said Greenphire intends to push harder on its mission. Their goal is simple: they want to democratize access to clinical trials.

Trials should not be exclusive to white, able-bodied people only.

“By removing the financial and logistical burdens from participants, we have seen an increase in patient retention that includes those patients who have historically been underserved,” King said. “We are focused on removing the burdens that many participants have cited as a reason for dropping out of a trial with two of our solutions. We want to provide sponsors with a service that provides better forecasting and budget development, using market value data that reflects the industry . This together with our global payment solution for websites will significantly reduce cycle times and accelerate payments to websites. We plan to be vigilant and provide services to better support the entire payment lifecycle.”