Do You Qualify for Nearby Clinical Trials? Find Out with Outstanding New “Clinical Trials Connection”

By Ava Runge

Find nearby T1D, T2D, gestational diabetes, and complications trials with new clinical trials matching tool launched by JDRF and TrialReach

JDRF and TrialReach recently launched “Clinical Trials Connection”, a free clinical trial matching tool that allows people with diabetes to quickly find trials they quality for in their area. The website is incredibly intuitive and easy to search, and is an incredible addition to the toolbox of type 1 and type 2 people with diabetes - while the old ClinicalTrials.gov website was challenging to navigate, this is far, far easier! The service works to address one of the biggest problems in diabetes research and product development: connecting a diverse range of people with diabetes to valuable trials.

In fact, JDRF recently reported that more than 80% of clinical trials are delayed or fail because researchers can’t find enough people to participate; and 85% of people with diabetes never have the opportunity to take part in research because they don’t know about clinical trials. JDRF further highlighted the 20,000 participants currently needed for type 1 diabetes clinical trials in the US alone. While the exact participant shortage is not known for type 2 clinical trials, the Joslin Diabetes Center lists extensive aims for current and future type 2 diabetes research – on education, technology and medication development, prevention, prediction, and reversal of type 2 diabetes – that illustrate how much learning remains in this area.

To find clinical trials in your area, visit the TrialReach website and enter your diabetes type (type 1, type 2, gestational, and complications are all included!), location, and extent of your willingness to travel to a trial location (e.g., 10 miles). The website will then prompt a series of exclusion/inclusion questions and provide a list of nearby trials with links to straightforward pages offering additional details. (Multiple people on the diaTribe team have tested the site and found several dozen trials within 10 miles of our San Francisco office in less than three minutes!)

An example of a trial investigating the impact of diabetes distress on blood sugar can be viewed here – it is currently enrolling people with type 1 diabetes. Another example is a trial enrolling people across the US with type 2 diabetes to investigate effects of the drug finerenone on diabetic kidney disease.

Participating in a clinical trial is an excellent way for people with diabetes to play a role in the development of new therapies and technologies to cure, prevent, and treat their condition. Ideally, the new Clinical Trials Connection tool can make it easier to find clinical trials and help speed the pace of innovation across diabetes types and complications. 

[Photo Credit: TrialReach]