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Cancer
Center's Patients access the Clinical Trial Match & Referral Service at 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 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, the user 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 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. Almanac, Vol. 48, No. 19, January 22, 2002 |
ISSUE HIGHLIGHTS: Tuesday,
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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 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 Dr. James Metz, 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." 
