Supporting Diversity Action Plans: How Can Quest Diagnostics Lab Data Help Accelerate Clinical Trial Planning and Recruitment?

The effectiveness of clinical trials often depends on the quality and depth of the data utilized. As the largest diagnostic lab in the US, Quest Diagnostics is at the forefront of producing a vast amount of data from a wide array of standard and specialized tests. This rich data resource has significant potential to innovate clinical trials, providing real-world, timely insights that can enhance success and streamline trial processes.

In this one-on-one with Xtalks, Parag More, Executive Director of Healthcare Analytics Solutions for Clinical Trials at Quest Diagnostics, shared insights into Quest’s capabilities and how Quest data can enhance clinical trial planning and recruitment.

Parag also discussed how Quest can support the US Food and Drug Administration’s Diversity Action Plans.

At Quest Diagnostics, Parag focuses on leading operations and solutions to drive clinical trial planning and recruitment through data and insights.

Watch the Spotlight video and read further to discover how Parag and his team contribute to the success of clinical trials.

How Quest Diagnostics Supports Clinical Trials

Quest performs over half a billion lab tests annually, serving almost one out of three American adults. These include routine clinical tests and highly specialized genetic and esoteric tests.

“Quest Diagnostics is one of the leading lab service providers in the country. We support services to biopharma all the way from discovery to clinical development to commercialization. This is driven by our diagnostic testing and the information we have access to,” said Parag.

This extensive data, collected over the last 15 years and comprising over 70 billion test results, is normalized and standardized to provide data-driven services to biopharma.

“In the United States alone, more than 80 percent of the clinical trials fail to achieve their enrollment targets, and 30 percent of study participants discontinue their participation. With Quest’s scaled access to data, patient and provider relationships, and medical expertise, we believe we can provide deep services to biopharma,” emphasized Parag.

Enhancing Clinical Trial Planning and Recruitment

Quest Diagnostics leverages its vast diagnostic data resources to identify potential candidates for enrollment, plan logistics and engage the provider community.

By leveraging this extensive data, Quest can provide valuable insights into patient demographics and disease prevalence. For example, in chronic kidney disease (CKD) trials, Parag explains they can “identify which sites should be selected for research activities and which principal investigators would be the right fit based on real-world data.” This ensures that trials are set up in locations with a high prevalence of the target condition, maximizing the chances of successful enrollment.

Furthermore, geofencing capabilities allow Quest to identify and communicate with patients and providers near clinical trial sites. This targeted approach ensures that recruitment efforts are efficient and effective, optimizing resources and enhancing enrollment outcomes.

Supporting Recruitment and Enrollment

Quest Diagnostics’ efforts extend beyond identifying trial participants through clinical and demographic data. Parag explained, “Using the data and the insights to identify the patients or the providers is just the start. The last mile involves connecting and communicating with patients.”

Direct-to-patient outreach is employed via emails, notifications, and alerts in the MyQuest app, ensuring potential trial participants receive timely and relevant information.

Awareness is another critical aspect addressed. As Parag noted, “Many people don’t have access to clinical trials even if they would like to participate.” Quest’s strong retail presence helps build awareness among the patient population. With over 2,200 patient service centers in retail settings, Quest can reach a broad audience, promoting clinical trial opportunities and increasing participation.

Furthermore, the company leverages its credibility and relationships to communicate with physicians. “Research shows that out of seven out of ten patients would be interested or they would agree to participate in the clinical trial if the communication or the direction is coming from their physicians,” Parag emphasized. By directly engaging with providers, Quest ensures that doctors can inform eligible patients about relevant clinical trials.

Personalized communication strategies are also used to support recruitment. Based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, Quest identifies eligible patients and creates tailored Institutional Review Board (IRB)-approved communication messages. Parag explained, “We do direct-to-patient outreach… We send out the emails, we can send out the notifications and alerts in our MyQuest apps.”

To address patient retention, Quest’s Pack Health business unit offers engagement and retention services, providing personalized support throughout the clinical research journey. Pack Health’s services include coaching, regular check-ins and assistance with navigating the trial process, ensuring participants remain engaged and committed.

Supporting Diversity in Clinical Trials

In June 2024, the FDA revised its guidance on Diversity Action Plans, emphasizing the need for recruitment goals for racial and ethnically diverse groups. Parag explained, “The goal or the intent of the guidance is that research sponsors are expected to set recruitment goals for racial and ethnically diverse groups, stratified by their age and their gender.”

The aim is to ensure that diverse populations have equitable access to research and therapies and that medical products are tested on a representative sample of the population.

By leveraging extensive demographic and clinical data, Quest helps sponsors set realistic recruitment targets aligned with the diversity action plan. “We can look at our patient population, the demographic information that we have or the geographics that we have access to and we can let you know what are the realistic goals to even reach that population,” elaborated Parag.

Quest’s outreach efforts extend to socioeconomically diverse and underrepresented groups. They leverage their large volume of data and access to more than 313 million patients to build awareness and find the best fit for clinical trial opportunities.

Additionally, Quest engages with physicians who serve diverse populations, ensuring they are aware of ongoing trials and can refer eligible patients. This approach aligns with research indicating patients are more likely to participate in clinical trials when recommended by their healthcare providers.

By leveraging comprehensive data and targeted outreach, Quest Diagnostics ensures clinical trials include diverse and representative populations, supporting the FDA’s revised guidance and promoting more equitable healthcare outcomes.

Future Plans for Supporting Clinical Trials

Looking ahead, Quest Diagnostics is investing in advanced analytics, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to enhance their data capabilities. By using technologies such as natural language processing (NLP), Quest can extract valuable information from pathology reports and other diagnostic data, making it more actionable for clinical trials. Additionally, Quest is developing digital twin models to predict disease progression and improve preventive care.

The company also supports decentralized clinical trials, bringing trial sites closer to patients through mobile phlebotomy services, patient service centers and engagement services to improve pahttps://www.examone.com/tient retention. Their business units, such as ExamOne and Pack Health, provide services that enhance patient access, engagement and retention, ensuring a more seamless and supportive clinical trial experience.

Quest Diagnostics’ extensive data, advanced analytics and comprehensive services play a critical role in enhancing clinical trial planning and recruitment, supporting diversity action plans and advancing the future of clinical research.

This article was created in collaboration with the sponsoring company and the Xtalks editorial team.