(Reuters) -CVS Health Corp, best known for its national chain of drugstores, said on Thursday it had started offering clinical study services to support drug developers with tasks such as patient enrollment.
The company said it would use analytics and local community connections to help individuals learn about clinical study opportunities that could be appropriate for them.
The new business will also offer decentralized options for late-stage clinical trials and studies in real-world settings at CVS locations, at home or virtually, CVS said.
Certain existing challenges with conducting clinical studies, such as low patient enrollment and inconvenient trial sites, show the need to improve the current model, particularly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, said Troyen Brennan, the chief medical officer of CVS Health.
CVS said it had already collaborated with drug developers to help facilitate clinical trials for investigational COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, which the new business will now expand. (https://refini.tv/3fvQaTi)
(Reporting by Manojna Maddipatla and Amruta Khandekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel)
