Intelligent Finance News APP learned that the 6th CMAC Clinical Research Annual Meeting and DTC Landing and Practice Forum was recently held in Beijing, with many clinical experts, hospital institutional experts, regulatory leaders and others attending to discuss problems and solutions in the pharmaceutical R&D process. It was announced at the forum that the Far-Range Intelligent Clinical Trial (DCT) Case Study and Strategy Research project team was established. This project was funded by the China Pharmaceutical Innovation and Research Development Association, and multiple socially influential medical institutions and companies participated in the research. Wingmed, a subsidiary of Waterdrop Inc., was one of the members of the project team.

Gong Chen, head of the medical services division of Waterdrop Inc. and general manager of Wingmed, said that recruiting trial participants is one of the biggest challenges for clinical trial developers. Through AI, big data and other intelligent recruitment methods, it is possible to link more research institutions and businesses in a more inclusive and extensive manner, to help eligible patients find suitable clinical trials and help clinical trials find suitable patients, and to generally improve the accuracy and efficiency of matching.

Figure: Gong Chen, head of the medical services division of Waterdrop Inc. and general manager of Wingmed, was invited to attend and speak at the event.

Gong Chen explained that the development of trial participant recruitment has gone through two stages of online and scenario-based approaches, and is now entering the new stage of intelligence. In the scenario-based stage, Waterdrop Inc. has accumulated a large and dimensionally rich patient data. In the intelligent era, it is necessary to reduce the cost of case structure through AI, big data and other capabilities, and to improve the accuracy of conversion. For example, in a Phase III global clinical trial in which Wingmed participated, a large-scale model data structure and intelligent algorithm matching was used to accurately find potential eligible patients in a self-built library of interested patients, ultimately achieving a patient informed rate of 89 and an enrollment rate of 64, with an enrollment target completion rate of 128%.

It is reported that Wingmed is an innovative business layout in the health services sector of Waterdrop Inc., carrying out patient recruitment and other businesses based on its huge patient community and digital capabilities, and helping well-known domestic and foreign pharmaceutical companies improve their R&D efficiency. Based on its unique competitiveness and digital capabilities in patient recruitment, Wingmed has built a clinical trial service team with rich experience, and has already launched a full-process clinical CRO operation project, providing pharmaceutical companies with a full range of clinical trial services, including data insights, medical affairs, data management, statistical analysis, project management and patient management.

By the end of 2023, Wingmed had accumulated more than 6,900 enrolled patients and more than 890 clinical trial projects. It has been highly recognized by cooperative applicants. In the first quarter of 2024, Wingmed cooperated with 179 pharmaceutical companies and CRO institutions. Its recruitment platform has grown into a leading third-party patient recruitment platform in China, with extremely strong competitiveness in the fields of tumors and common diseases.

"In the future, Wingmed hopes to cooperate with more pharmaceutical industry partners to improve patient service experience and efficiency through AI and other technological capabilities, and strive to do better in patient recruitment services and exert greater social value," said Gong Chen.