Can Cancer Trial Apps Boost Enrollment?

Participation in clinical trials — and cancer trials in particular — is agonizingly low. The National Cancer Institute has estimated that less than 5% of patients participate in cancer trials.  But that could possibly change with the growing availability of applications for smart phones and tablets that instantly link clinicians and patients with ongoing trials.

Screenshot of Lilly Oncology Clinical Trials Resource

Just as the American Society for Clinical Oncology was starting off its annual meeting, Eli Lilly announced that it was launching a clinical trials app.  According to Lilly, the free app is available for the Apple iPad and iPhone, the RIM BlackBerry, and the Google Android. Physicians — or patients — can use the app to search oncology trials that are enrolling new patients by disease state, molecule being studied, study phase, country, state, and keyword.

The Lilly app also links patients and clinicians to resources such as support groups, financial help, and nutritional counseling, for instance.  Because it was developed by a drug maker, it also prominently features a search tool for Lilly-sponsored trials. Other than that, it appears to be very comprehensive and easy to use.

Lilly is not the first manufacturer to venture into a trials app. Last June, GlaxoSmithKline, in partnership with MedTrust Online LLC, launched a similar app that lets users search for trials for all cancer types. Unlike the Lilly app, it does not try to push users towards GSK-sponsored trials. It, too, appears to be very comprehensive and easy to use.

Screenshot of MedTrust search

The National Cancer Institute also has a free app, but only lets patients search for trials at the National Institutes of Health campus in Bethesda, Md.  As I attempted to explore the app, however, it crashed multiple times. Not a good omen.

Similarly, the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance has created an app – but it is narrowly focused only on trials for  acute myeloid leukemia at its member facilities.

iHealthVentures LLC has created an app with the snappy name of “Clinical Research Trials” that allows users to search all of clinicaltrials.gov database. It costs $1.99.

As more Americans turn to smartphones and tablets to manage their lives and health, these trial apps could come in handy. And maybe even save or extend lives by getting people enrolled earlier in protocols that could help them.

Just an aside — OncologyPractice.com has a link to ongoing trials on its website here.  And it has just launched a free app that features the latest news and views in the field.

–Alicia Ault (@aliciaault on Twitter)

Physicians Play Important Role in mHealth Integration

Evident from the growth in the size of exhibit hall and the number of participants attending the mHealth Summit this year is that the business and technology side of the field is growing fast. In fact, it’s growing so fast that a group of panelists called it the “mHealth bubble” during a vibrant discussion about the value of mHealth.

The parts playing catch-up are research and evaluation. That’s according to William T. Riley, Ph.D., chair of the NIH mHealth Interest Group, and program director at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

Agencies such as the NIH are trying to figure out how best to streamline the research side of things to help with quicker deployment of mHealth products, and according to Dr. Riley, physicians play an important role in integrating mobile technologies in the health care system.

Here’s more from Dr. Riley:

Naseem S. Miller (@NaseemSMiller)

Is Your Phone Smart Enough to Cure Acne?

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says no, definitely not.  On Sept. 8, the agency announced that it had reached settlements with two companies that were claiming that their apps could cure acne. It is the first time the FTC has pursued any company making a health claim for an app.

“AcneApp” and “Acne Pwner” both claimed to be able to treat acne with colored lights that come out of the phone when the app is activated. Purchasers were told to hold the screen next to the affected area of skin for few minutes daily.

The agency was having none of it. “Smartphones make our lives easier in countless ways, but unfortunately when it comes to curing acne, there’s no app for that,” said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz, in a statement.

Acne Clear app. Photo by Alicia Ault

According to the FTC, there were 3,300 downloads of AcnePwner, for sale in the Android Marketplace for 99 cents. AcneApp was downloaded 11,600 times from the iTunes store at a cost of $1.99 each. 

The AcneApp makers claimed that the app was developed by a dermatologist and that its technology was backed up by a study in the British Journal of Dermatology. Nope, not true, said the FTC.

The settlements bar the app makers from making acne-treatment claims and they were ordered to pay nominal fines. Koby Brown and Gregory W. Pearson, doing business as DermApps, have to pay $14,294, and Andrew N. Finkle, doing business as Acne Pwner, was ordered to pay $1,700.

The trade journal mobihealthnews reported that both apps had been removed from retail earlier this year or late last year.  Mobihealthnews also noted that the New York Times gave the AcneApp some press in late 2009. Gregory Pearson is identified in that story as a Houston-area dermatologist.

Apps that claim to offer curative powers were the subject of a two-day workshop that the Food and Drug Administration just wrapped up.  The agency has been mulling over how and when to regulate mobile apps.  It looks like the FTC may have beaten it to the punch.

But there are likely to be plenty more apps to scrutinize in the future.

A quick check of the Android marketplace today from my smartphone found, “Acne Clear,” from United Holdings Group, being sold at 99 cents.  It supposedly “uses a specific sound frequency and a blue color wavelength from the Lapis Lazuli gemstone to help clear and detox the skin.”  United also markets a “Skin Cleanser” app that supposedly uses a sound frequency and “a yellow color wavelength from the Imperial Topaz gemstone to help clean the skin of dark spots, sun spots, and acne scars.”  It’s 99 cents.

There’s also “SkinApp” from M&R Selected, which is free. and advises that it allows you to do “color light therapy on the go.” It is listed as having 10,000 to 50,000 downloads. The reviews are full of testimonials that it works, but also that it is just plain “bad.”

What kind of review would you give these apps? Should patients download them, or are they better off keeping their 99 cents?

— Alicia Ault (on Twitter @aliciaault)