For Immediate Release
November 8, 2023
MMG, in partnership with the Duke Clinical Research Institute, Receives MM+M Gold Award for Data-Driven Approach to Increasing Diversity in Clinical Trials
MM+M Award winners for Use of Clinical Trial/Research Marketing
Rockville, MD – MMG, in collaboration with the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI), received the MM+M Gold Award for Use of Clinical Trial/Research Marketing. The award submission highlights their work in the ACTIV-6 study which aims to increase diversity and inclusion in its participant population. The objective of the MM+M Awards is to recognize, champion and celebrate creativity and effectiveness in healthcare marketing and communications. An MM+M Award is highly valued because recognition comes from industry peers.
ACTIV-6 is a national study to find out whether certain medications approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration can help people with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 feel better faster. Since people of color are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, the ACTIV-6 team aims to enroll a diverse and inclusive study population. The study's clinical coordinating team at the DCRI works closely with MMG to establish a robust, data-driven marketing campaign to reach not only the general target audience of individuals in the U.S. aged 30 and older who had recently tested positive for COVID-19, but to also strategize the most effective way to narrow the targeting to effectively reach diverse Americans most at risk for COVID. The DCRI and MMG teams established a campaign goal of enrolling a minimum of 20 percent of participants who identify as Black, Hispanic or Latino, and American Indian.
"We greatly value the partnership and collaborative relationship we have fostered with DCRI and the ACTIV-6 team. We value their trust in our clinical trial recruitment efforts and expertise. I am especially proud of the MMG team, the work we do every day, and the passion each member of our team brings to our organization,” said Ann Kottcamp, President of MMG.
From the campaign's launch, the clinical trial faced numerous challenges—dwindling public interest in the pandemic, a dramatically declining number of new cases, navigating the biased political environment surrounding COVID, and mistrust of clinical research by people in communities that have been historically underrepresented or misrepresented in clinical trials.
"Our collaboration with MMG is critical to our efforts in enrolling a study population that is diverse, inclusive, and reflective of people who could benefit most from the results of ACTIV-6,” said M. Patricia McAdams, MS, Associate Director of DCRI Research Communications and Engagement. "In addition, this campaign provides a model for reaching individuals who traditionally have not had opportunities to participate in clinical research.”
As a national online, decentralized trial, ACTIV-6 allows participants to take part from home and from anywhere in the U.S. However, instead of targeting a broad, national audience, the campaign focuses on areas of the U.S. considered ‘hot spots.' These are locations that, at given points in time, showed increasing cases, low vaccination rates, high case and hospitalization rates per capita, and a high COVID-19 community vulnerability index (CCVI) to reach those most in need of accessible health care. As data trends changed, so did the strategy.
The campaign also uses cultural and political data trends to locate populations of people who may be most willing to participate. Language accessibility and imagery representation are also key in the strategy. All campaign messaging ensures culturally appropriate Spanish translations to resonate with Hispanic/Latino communities, and the team ran A/B tests to determine which images and messages resonated most with the target audience to better optimize the campaign over time.
To measure the success of the campaign, the DCRI and MMG teams review demographic data reported by enrolled participants on a regular cadence. From January to May 2023, the strategy and partnership with DCRI and MMG bolstered the enrollment process to achieve 26 percent diversity in trial participants, which was 6 percentage points higher than the 20 percent goal. The MM+M Gold Award for increasing diversity in COVID-19 research is a triumphant achievement for MMG and its partner, DCRI.
About ACTIV-6
ACTIV-6 is part of the National Institutes of Health-funded Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines (ACTIV) and is led by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). The DCRI serves as the study's clinical coordinating center, partnering with Vanderbilt University Medical Center as the study's data coordinating center. The study is leveraging the infrastructure of PCORnet®, the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network, supported by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, and the Trial Innovation Network, a collaborative initiative within the NCATS Clinical and Translational Science Awards Program that helps address critical roadblocks in clinical trials and accelerate the translation of novel interventions into life-saving therapies. To learn more, visit activ6study.org.
About Matthews Media Group (MMG)
MMG is a full-service patient recruitment agency that has helped clinical trial programs of all sizes accelerate their enrollment goals for over 35 years. Through our data-driven strategies, we are trusted leaders in trial recruitment and pride ourselves in our expertise. MMG is a proud member of the world's largest healthcare communications network, Omnicom Health Group (OHG). The clinical trials we support benefit from our access to OHG's cutting-edge communication solutions and coveted partnerships in research, analytics, and digital technologies, as well as The Omnicom Group's vast buying power. To learn more, visit mmgct.com.
About the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI)
The DCRI is the largest academic research organization in the world, with a mission to develop and share knowledge that improves the care of patients and populations through innovative clinical research. The DCRI conducts groundbreaking multinational clinical trials, manages major national patient registries, and performs landmark outcomes research. This research spans multiple disciplines, from pediatrics to geriatrics, primary care to subspecialty medicine, and genomics to proteomics. Learn more at dcri.org.
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Matthews Media Group contacts:
Carrie Swallow
cswallow@mmgct.com