The Amerian Heart Association and the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI) have formed a strategic alliance devoted to designing and conducting pragmatic randomized clinical trials in the cardiovascular space.
The partnership will also explore the implementation of best practices to treat CV illnesses, improve outcomes and reduce patient suffering, according to a statement from the AHA. The pragmatic trials pioneered by the AHA and DCRI will all pull data from existing, real-world national registries.
“The premise of the data registry and the quality improvement programs that follow is that when medical professionals apply the most up-to-date evidence-based treatment guidelines, patient outcomes improve,” Mariell Jessup, chief science and medical officer for the AHA, said in the statement. “Combining the reach of the American Heart Association’s connection to more than 2,000 hospitals and millions of patient data records with the real-world data research experience of the DCRI brings tremendous potential for upcoming pragmatic clinical trials that will result in healthier patients.”
John Warner, an AHA volunteer expert and the executive VP for health system affairs at UT Southwestern, said the AHA’s collaboration with the DCRI will help the AHA to use its wealth of patient- and hospital-level data to inform guideline developments and innovate new therapies. Jonathan Piccini, MD, MHS, of the DCRI agreed, saying in a statement that Duke is “delighted” to expand its partnership with the AHA.
“Our experience in conducting pragmatic trails makes the DCRI a logical partner for applying pragmatic clinical design approach with the Association’s Get With the Guidelines program,” Piccini said. He’s currently the principal investigator of the GWTG analytic center at the DCRI.
“By uniting our experience in quality improvement, together we can create new clinical evidence and glean insights that will advance cardiovascular health, inform treatment guidelines and accelerate the adoption of scientific discoveries into clinical practice.”
After graduating from Indiana University-Bloomington with a bachelor’s in journalism, Anicka joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering cardiology. Close to her heart is long-form journalism, Pilot G-2 pens, dark chocolate and her dog Harper Lee.