Illinois-based homecare management network company Clinical Resource Network (CRN) is expanding internationally into 16 European countries and Israel. The company’s services have just begun to be available in some of the countries but will be available in all by the end of this year.
CRN offers an in-home nursing service model to sponsors conducting clinical research. Clinicians go to the subject’s home, workplace or travel destination to conduct protocol visits, making it more convenient for them to participate in a clinical trial.
Founded in 2003, CRN has more than 3,000 homecare agencies in its network and access to more than 20,000 clinicians,most of whom are in North America. The company has 20 employees in its corporate office and under 50 active clinical trials.
“We’re finding that about 70% of our RFPs are coming in with requests for services internationally. We can’t ignore that trend,” said Gail Adinamis, president and chief executive officer of CRN.
CRN is expanding into Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. The company already had a presence in the UK.
While it may seem counterintuitive for CRN to offer its services in Central and Eastern European countries that are well known for their fast patient recruitment times,Adinamis asserts that certain patients will always be in need of the company’s service, no matter where they live.
“I think there will always be therapeutic areas that make it challenging for patients to travel any distance.With Alzheimer’s disease and a lot of other neurological diseases, for example, it is very challenging for patients to get, or for caregivers to get their patients, out of the home and to any location, and then from the car to the office,” said Adinamis. “Then you also have the rare disease patient who tends to be not in close proximity to designated specialty centers.”
Adinamis also pointed out the mobility of the European population in general due to some countries’ laws requiring workers to take five weeks of vacation. Students and workers who cannot take time off during an investigative site’s business hours would also be able to participate with CRN.
Though CRN only offered services in North America when it was first established,Adinamis expects that revenues form North America and outside it will be equal down the road. “I would anticipate that in short order, international will be about 25% of our program and that it will probably end up being about 50- 50,” she said.
CRN is looking to expand into Australia next, and plans to develop capabilities in Latin America are under consideration.
