Merck and Quintiles Start Patient Registries

Merck announced in a press release that it has launched a global diabetes registry. Merck’s new registry will collect data for three years from patients with type 2 diabetes. The initiative is part of a broader effort by pharmaceutical companies to seek patient information through patient registries and by leveraging clinical trial data, among other efforts. The World Health Organization (WHO) runs a clinical trial registry, which is a good example of pairing a trial with a data collection effort. While some efforts focus on streamlining trials, Merck’s plan is to collect data in a comprehensive manner for later use.

Quintiles, a contract research organization (CRO), also recently announced that it has started an electronic patient registry. Cynthia Verst, president of Real-World & Late Phase Research at Quintiles, said, “Patient registries are an increasingly vital component of real-world, comprehensive evidence development for identifying the causes of disease and, in this case, injuries, and designing effective treatments.”

Merck’s Type 2 Diabetes Registry

Merck stated that it started its type 2 diabetes registry to evaluate the full range of data, to gain insight, and to improve treatment in the U.S. and worldwide. The global registry will evaluate the experience of 20,000 patients in everyday clinical practice. Merck says the data will be “real-world evidence” from sources such as surveys and insurance claims data. Information will be collected on the patient’s quality of life, blood glucose control, medication adherence, and healthcare resource utilization. The company expects the project to reveal gaps in type 2 diabetes management and other important information. The registry will include 900 sites in countries such as the United States, Germany, France, and Japan.

Reflecting the difference in approach compared to clinical trial registries, Peter Stein, M.D., vice president, diabetes and endocrinology at Merck Research Laboratories, said, “Real-world research is a meaningful assessment of the day-to-day management of patients with diabetes—and is an important complement to clinical trials as we seek to identify unmet needs and new solutions to help improve patient outcomes, access and adherence.”

Quintiles Registry

Quintiles calls its new physical therapy registry a “hub-and-spoke model.” The spokes are the data sources and the hub is the centralized data repository. The sources for information include facilities, academic centers, health systems, and private practitioners. Quintiles states that this model allows for efficient data collection across diverse health care settings and patient populations. The company also said that this type of registry will help develop standards in reporting patient information.