BBK Worldwide, a clinical trial marketing firm, has launched two new mobile apps for patient and site engagement, My Clinical Study Buddy and My Clinical Study Buddy Protocol Pointers Edition. Apps are available for Apple and Android mobile phones and tablets.

My Clinical Study Buddy is designed to help study participants stay informed and navigate the study every step of the way. The app offers several key features: Visit Planner includes visit descriptions so patients know what to expect for each visit, a calendar managing reminders and visits and links to office locations and maps; Study Resources includes educational resources, articles and related videos; and Study Contacts.

My Clinical Study Buddy Protocol Pointers Edition is designed to help sites and patient recruitment specialists enhance recruitment efforts. The app offers related tutorials, protocol information and real-time updates.

By leveraging the company's recruitment platform TrialCentralNet (TCN)—a system that streamlines, organizes and provides on-demand analysis of all data, processes and activities—the apps are highly customizable and easily updatable in real time based on user patterns and needs and/or protocol changes. Additionally, new apps can be built on the TCN platform in weeks or a few months, versus several months to a year, saving sponsors time, budget and resources.

Consumers continue to drive the demand for information anywhere and anytime, and patients involved in clinical trials, as well as the sponsors managing those trials, are no exception. Smartphones accounted for more than half of all mobile phone sales in 2013, with more than half of those owners using their devices to get health info, and one-fifth of owners having at least one health app on their phone, according to Pew Research data. By 2017, it is estimated that half of the 3.4 billion smartphone or tablet users worldwide will be using mobile health apps. Not surprisingly, mobile-friendly patient recruitment campaigns are greatly enhancing enrollment and retention.

"Providing patients and sites with the information they need, when they need it, is a key competitive differentiator in today's increasing competitive clinical landscape—and a strategic imperative when it comes to patient advocacy and engagement," said Aaron Fleishman, leader of BBK's social innovation group. "Mobile will continue to help the life sciences industry reduce overall trial costs and is no longer simply a nice-to-have. The companies pulling ahead have made it a core element of their patient engagement strategy."