MediciGlobal

For those of us who don’t live in our native country the cultural differences, belief systems and obviously language differences become ever more apparent.

If we look at global companies around the world, all have a consistent brand, and consistent messaging, but it is adapted for local use by the local subsidiaries and local people. This approach is called GLOCAL:

Global Planning + Local Implementation = Glocal.

Patient recruitment for clinical trials requires a glocal approach. While there must be central planning to allow for global consistency (essential in a regulated industry) it must also allow for local implementation which includes local adaptation, whether it is design and layout of materials, cultural nuances, terminology, health care delivery or other considerations.

In recognizing the need for a GLOCAL process to patient recruitment and retention for global clinical trials, MediciGlobal spent 3 years building and refining a system called ADapt® to deliver glocal recruitment programs for clinical trials and involve local counties in the development of recruitment programs for their countries.

Uploaded into the ADapt® system is the centrally reviewed and approved materials (reviewed by legal, medical, regulatory, compliance and central ethics). These materials serve as a guide for countries for their own customization and adaptation. Through ADapt each country makes the changes, edits and adaptations to materials as they see fit. All changes are tracked in the system. As a result, ADapt offers a unique balance between the central-corporate approved materials and the local refinement from local staff required by to meet the needs of the country, region or even customized for a local study site.

The concept of GLOCAL was developed by the Japanese in the 1980s. It’s time has now come for patient recruitment and retention for clinical trials.