1. Patient Engagement through Social Media for Clinical Trials
Daniel Spratt, MD Thomas George, MD, FACP
University of Michigan University of Florida
@DrSpratticus @TGeorgeMD
Social Media Workshop
July 19, 2019

2. Disclosures Dr. Spratt Dr. George Funding and advisory board: Janssen
Advisory board:  Blue Earth
Dr. George
Public COI disclosure:
George

3. @DrSpratticus

4. @DrSpratticus

5. @DrSpratticus

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7. @DrSpratticus

8. Already 1 year ahead of schedule in accrual
NRG GU006 Genomic biomarker stratified randomized trial of the addition of enhanced anti-androgen therapy to salvage radiotherapy (BALANCE trial)
Open May 2018
First 6 months dead time
Have >100 enrollments to date
Already 1 year ahead of schedule in accrual
@DrSpratticus

9. Social media has allowed a platform for:
NRG GU006 Genomic biomarker stratified randomized trial of the addition of enhanced anti-androgen therapy to salvage radiotherapy (BALANCE trial)
Social media has allowed a platform for:
Patients and centers to ask PI questions
Allow NRG members and PI to promote the trial and inform ppl
Provide thanks to patients and give public credit to centers who are accruing patients
@DrSpratticus

10. @DrSpratticus

12. NRG Communications Committee
Engagement with patients is critical to trial success
Esp. specific subsets (e.g., BRAF mut. colorectal cancer)
Social Media represents an accessible, scalable and free resource
If patients are the target…
Must have coordinated effort and engage patients directly
Must be patient centric information and language
Must leverage the patient advocacy community
@TGeorgeMD

13. Social Media Patient Engagement Project
GOAL: Improve the general awareness of and engagement with high priority clinical trials through social media
Identify “high priority” NRG Studies (during pilot phase)
Develop patient centric, centrally managed materials & “landing page” (website) for info on trial
Deploy Social Media communications campaign to promote, inform and direct patients/caregivers
Amplify message through diverse NRG membership (advocates, investigators, staff, sites, etc.)
Track metrics of use, impressions and value (iterative process)
Engage NRG Patient Advocacy Committee members throughout process (from day 1)
Identify clinical trial content that matters most to patients
Ensure messages and media are on target
Collaborate with patient advocacy organizations to amplify messages
Model is scalable – w/ learning curve - consider parallel strategy for investigators, research staff, industry partners, etc.
@TGeorgeMD

14. Pt Engagement W.G. Structure
Communications Chair
P.E.W.G. Lead
Physicians
Advocates
Regulatory
Clinical
Coordinators
Communication Consultants
Web / Communications Coord.
SoMe / Communications Coord.
@TGeorgeMD

15. Social Media Patient Engagement Project
Processes
Pt Engagement WG (Comms Committee unit) developed roadmap
NRG Leadership and Disease Committee endorsements
Patient Advocacy Committee engagement
Identify study champions (MD and pt. advocate)
Trial webpage (cIRB approved template)
Trial patient brochure template (cIRB approved template)
Social Media communications schedule
@TGeorgeMD

16. New Trial Webpage Example
@TGeorgeMD

17. Trial Patient Brochure Example
NCI cIRB approved
Available via CTSU w/ study documents
@TGeorgeMD

18. Social Media Communications Plan
Modality
Messages
Frequency
Misc FB
Information/Education
Altruism
Narrative Appeals
Relational Appeals
Weekly
Noon-9pm
Monday - Friday
FB admin analytics
Support groups
Twitter
FB messaging + below
Patient vs. Caregiver
Visuals: people vs. person
Special populations
Weekly (min)
Scheduled
Cancer of the Month
Announcements
#Symplur Oncology Hashtags
Hootsuite for scheduling
Instagram
Similar to Twitter
Infographics
Visual education elements
Embed in patient brochures
Science of Communication & Engagement
@TGeorgeMD

19. Social Media Patient Engagement Project
Status July 2019
Webpage and Patient Brochure Templates built and cIRB approved
First two trial teams established (NRG-LU003; NRG-GI004) & content created
Webpages launching this month!
Social Media communications plan kicking off at #NRG19
Project metrics being measured over 3-6 mo w/ data incorporated into project
Plan to “bake this process in” to all new protocol activations in 2020
Retrofit for active studies on case-by-case basis
@TGeorgeMD

20. Thank you to NRG Oncology & the Communications Committee
Questions?
@DrSpratticus
@TGeorgeMD