Clinical trials conducted in the U.S. are entered into a publicly searchable database called clinicaltrials.gov. But for patients looking to volunteer for research -- and maybe get access to experimental treatments -- the site can be confusing. And that's a problem, because matching patients to the right clinical trials is one of the biggest bottlenecks in medical research. Drug companies like Pfizer, Merck, and Eli Lilly have to put a lot of effort into finding patients who will enroll in clinical trials.
PatientsLikeMe, an online health data sharing platform, has come up with a more intuitive solution. Patients enter their illness, age, and zip code and get a list of clinical trials into that they can enter. Hopefully this will help more patients find studies that might offer them some hope and help advance the speed of research.
PatientsLikeMe was founded by Jamie Heywood, an MIT engineer who was inspired to try and change medicine after watching his brother suffer from ALS, has come up with a more intuitive solution. I've included a touching TEDMED video in which Heywood recounts his story.
