Pfizer and Private Access to develop on-line community to accelerate clinical research

Noting that patient participation in clinical trials is the key to progress in medical research, global drug behemoth Pfizer says that it has entered into a collaboration with Private Access, the innovator in privacy-enhanced search technology, to create a new on-line community aimed at increasing clinical trial awareness and participation. The site will be the first to focus on patient privacy rights to connect patients, physicians and researchers with tailored information, tools and technology that will lead to more informed decisions about patient care, including clinical trial participation industry-wide, the US firm claims.

Pfizer's collaboration with Private Access will help address patients' and physicians' top concerns regarding research and clinical trials. The companies will work toward reducing the time needed to develop new and improved treatments by making it possible for researchers and investigators - based on express private access rights granted by the patient - to conduct more focused searches for clinical trial candidates.

Private Access' patented technology allows patients to control to whom, and for what purposes, they grant access to see all or selected portions of their personal health information. By granting 'private access' only to researchers focused on the conditions that interest them, patients can be more quickly and precisely matched to appropriate clinical trials while simultaneously protecting their confidential personal health information.