myTomorrows Launches Redesigned Treatment Search Report
Around the globe, patients with a life-threatening illness or debilitating condition are often facing a situation where approved or registered drugs are not available, not satisfactory, or have failed to be effective. These patients have an unmet medical need and are increasingly looking to drugs being studied in Clinical Trials as potential treatment options. While the evolution of digital technology has seen the democratization of information across many fields, patients — and sometimes even their physicians — may still struggle to find specific and relevant information about Clinical Trials. Standard internet search tools are simply not equipped for this task. The factors that contribute to this reality are myriad. From the discrepancy between lay language used by patients (“breast cancer”) and medical jargon used by researchers (“mammary adenocarcinoma”) to the lack of a global centralized database listing all ongoing Clinical Trials.
From the beginning, myTomorrows has understood the need to address lack of information as a barrier to access to treatment and has been committed to leveraging technology as a solution. To that end we created the Treatment Search Report. The thinking behind its creation is simple:
- Search through worldwide Clinical Trials databases and public registries to accurately and rapidly identify relevant trials.
- Compile the results in an impartial report for patients to share with their physicians and potentially access a pre-approval treatment option.
How we compile the Treatment Search Report
The process begins with a patient with an unmet medical need (or their caregiver) contacting myTomorrows and being assigned a Patient Navigator. This member of our medical team helps explain the concept of pre-approval access and manages the process of searching for treatment options among Clinical Trials and, where appropriate, Expanded Access Programs. Patient Navigators then securely collect patient-specific medical information (such as stage of disease and tumor profile) which is used by the Treatment Search Coordinator — working with myTomorrows Search — to compile the report.
Patients can then share their Treatment Search Report with their physicians and in so doing hopefully have better-informed conversations with them about potential treatment options. myTomorrows strongly believes that supporting physicians with provision of information is a key factor in helping patients with an unmet medical need access treatment options. So much so that we compile Treatment Search Reports free of charge for all patients and physicians. Until recently the information produced by this process was compiled into a single document used by both patients and physicians.
Why we redesigned the Treatment Search Report
Since 2018, we have compiled and shared close to 1,000 Treatment Search Reports. As the network of patients and physicians that we help has grown, and our focus expanded across disease areas, we have come to appreciate that patients and physicians need different information at different points in time. For example, while it was likely that physicians would be familiar with the concept of pre-approval access at the beginning of the process, we found that this was often not the case with patients. It became clear as we helped more patients that they needed more information earlier on in their journey in order to make the most out of physician-led conversations about treatment options. At the same time their physicians needed specific information at the time of these conversations. We realized that shared decision-making between patients and physicians was better served by catering to the needs of patients and physicians in different ways within the same process.
Example of a Clinical Trial listing
Patient Information Brochure: general information for patients
With these new insights in mind we designed the Patient Information Brochure. We now send this a week in advance of patients receiving their Treatment Search Report. It allows the patient to first of all familiarize themselves with the process by which they may obtain information and potentially a treatment option. Thereafter, it explains what pre-approval treatment options are i.e. Clinical Trials and Expanded Access Programs, and how they work. Once these principles are understood, we explain how pre-approval treatment options fit within the context of the drug development process. Empowered with this knowledge we believe patients are best positioned to understand the treatment options listed in their report.
The format in which the treatment options are listed in the report is similar to the format used by Clinical Trial databases and registries. While physicians are likely to be familiar with both the format and the language used, patients may not be. In order to help them understand what information is presented where, the Patient Information Brochure also incorporates examples of a Clinical Trial listing and an Expanded Access Program listing. Both are accompanied by explanations that identify each part of the listing while also making clear that a good portion of the language in the listing is medical jargon that they can expect their physician to explain to them.
Finally, the Patient Information Brochure gives patients actionable next steps to follow, if they choose to do so, once they receive their Treatment Search Report. Following these steps will hopefully allow patients and their physicians to get the most from their shared process i.e. shared decision-making and potentially access to a treatment. Throughout this process, patients can contact their Patient Navigator with any questions or concerns as well as for help progressing through the steps.
Treatment Search Report: specific information for physicians
Separating expository elements out from the Treatment Search Report has made it an information-rich document with even more value for physicians facing the challenge of balancing clinical duties with administrative tasks. To save physicians time, each Treatment Search Report opens with guidance on how to use the report along with information about how myTomorrows may be able to assist (upon physician request) with referral to Clinical Trials or, where appropriate, facilitating access via an Expanded Access Program. After this there is a list of which patient-specific information was used to compile the report and when that information was obtained. Following on from that is an indexed overview of results — always listing Clinical Trials first — and showing salient information such as:
- Type of treatment option i.e. Clinical Trial or Expanded Access Program
- The study phase
- A descriptive title
Better-informed conversations between patients and physicians are a key component in increasing patient participation in clinical research. This in turn contributes greatly to advancing drug development and giving more patients with an unmet medical need all available treatment options earlier on. The Treatment Search Report is but one of the ways that myTomorrows is making drug development serve everyone better.
Find out more at: mytomorrows.com
