December 17,
2001
University of Pennsylvania Cancer
Center's OncoLink and EmergingMed.com Launch Free On-Line
Clinical Trial Match & Referral Service
(Philadelphia,
PA) - OncoLink, the University of Pennsylvania Cancer
Center's award-winning web site, and EmergingMed are
pleased to announce the launch of a new Clinical Trial
Match & Referral Service. Available free to visitors
of OncoLink.com, this service is the first phase of
a three-year exclusive collaboration between Penn's
Cancer Center and EmergingMed.com. It enables visitors
to learn about clinical trials available through the
University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center and to easily
identify trials for which they or a loved one might
be eligible.
One of the largest cancer information web sites and
cited as one of the best internet sources of medical
information by the Journal of the American Medical Association
(JAMA - May 24, 2001), OncoLink recently underwent a
dramatic expansion and re-design. The updated graphics
and layout introduce improved navigation features to
better accommodate the over 11.2 million visits from
patients, families and providers who access the site
monthly.
"We at EmergingMed and OncoLink share a steadfast
commitment to improving patient access to cancer clinical
trials and accelerating the process of finding better
cancer treatments," said Courtney Hudson, chief
executive officer and founder of EmergingMed.
"Through this collaboration we can further empower
patients with easy to locate treatment options they
might otherwise never know about," added James
Metz, MD, assistant professor of Radiation Oncology
at Penn and editor-in-chief of OncoLink. "At the
same time, we've streamlined the process of getting
eligible patients into clinical trials, making the experience
as easy and convenient as possible"
Patients access the Clinical Trial Match & Referral
Service at http://www.oncolink.com
under "Treatment Options" and "Clinical
Trials." From there, visitors can either view a
listing of available trials by cancer type or they can
fill out a simple on-line questionnaire to determine
their eligibility. All submitted information is kept
strictly confidential. Within seconds, a response will
show if a patient's profile matches the enrollment criteria
for any clinical trials at the University of Pennsylvania
Cancer Center. If a match is made with one or more clinical
trials, an EmergingMed customer service specialist-upon
request-will help facilitate contact with the team conducting
the trials.
The service strives to respond to requests by phone
the same day an application is submitted and within
48 hours for e-mail requests.
Additional support for the Clinical Trials Match and
Referral Service has been provided by Aventis Pharmaceuticals.
OncoLink was founded in 1994 by Penn cancer
specialists who wanted to help cancer patients, families,
health care professionals and the general public get
accurate, timely cancer-related information-quickly
and free of charge. Through it, you can get information
about specific types of cancer, news about research
advances and updates on cancer treatment. OncoLink,
which is managed and written by physicians and nurses
of the University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center, has
been recognized as one of the leading health resources
on the Web, reaching over 11 million hits per month.
It's received numerous awards including the coveted
Global Information Infrastructure Award in 1998.
EmergingMed was founded in January 2000 to offer
cancer patients and their families a fast and easy way
to find and understand available treatment options and
to speed up drug development through increased enrollment
in clinical trials. The Company's clients include Aventis
Pharmaceuticals, Genentech, SuperGen, Clinical Research
Group, ILEX Oncology, Protein Design Labs, Antigenics,
and the University of Arizona Cancer Center. Based in
New York City, EmergingMed is a private health services
and hosted application provider. For more information,
call 212-594-7990 or write to ContactUs@emergingmed.com.
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