In an interview with PharmaShots, Joe Eazor, CEO at Clario share his views on the ERT’s merger with Bioclinica to become Clario for clinical trial innovation and evidence

• ERT & Bioclinica merged to become Clario, following its Apr 2021 merger agreement & to generate the clinical evidence, empower the patients &  transform their lives by providing better evidence
• Clario combines Bioclinica's expertise in imaging, eClinical software, and drug safety solutions with ERT's expertise in eCOA, cardiac safety, respiratory and precision motion into the broadest endpoint technology platform for clinical trials
• Clario provides Trial Anywhere to conduct decentralized, hybrid, and site-based clinical trials by using technology. Trial Anywhere offers sites and sponsors to get more clinical trial options & improves health equity

Tuba: Can we have a glance at your recently combined company 'Clario'? 

Joe Eazor: Clario, the best of ERT and Bioclinica, is a technology company that generates the richest clinical evidence. Our transformation is inspired by transforming patients' lives and grounded by putting people first, including our partners, patients, and employees. In collaborating, we're committed to innovating the future of clinical trials. 

What excites me most is that we're bringing an often-overlooked part of the clinical trial process to the forefront. The COVID-19 pandemic made clinical trials into a household conversation, sometimes at the dinner table, where families continue to discuss the value and efficacy of COVID vaccines. What most don't realize is the incredible impact clinical evidence has on regulatory approval. Reliable evidence can accelerate approval and even open investigators' eyes to the uses of medicines—anything less can hinder getting life-saving treatments to the public. The checks and balances we have in place ensure the quality of that data to the regulator. This is our specialty—Clario generates the richest evidence, empowering our partners and, ultimately, transforming lives.

Tuba: What led to the merger of ERT and Bioclinica to form Clario?

Joe Eazor: Clario combines Bioclinica's expertise in imaging, eClinical software, and drug safety solutions with ERT's expertise in eCOA, cardiac safety, respiratory, and precision motion.

By uniting two technology leaders, we bring together decades of scientific expertise and unrivaled global scale into the broadest endpoint technology platform. Clario is poised to enrich the clinical trial process, simplify trial experiences and unlock the richest clinical evidence across decentralized, hybrid, and site-based clinical trials.

We're proud of our progress – together, we have nearly 50 years of experience. We've completed 19,000 trials across all clinical phases and therapeutic areas. We've executed trials in over 120 countries. We're proud that Clario supported 70% of all FDA approvals in 2019-2020 alone. As I look ahead, our purpose remains clear — we will continue to transform lives by unlocking better evidence.

Tuba: Can we talk about the merger terms and details?

Joe Eazor: We started this journey when we announced the merger in December 2020 and then closed our merger in April 2021.  

The merger affirmed our position as the global leader in clinical trial evidence generation technologies for decentralized hybrid and site-based clinical trials. 

Tuba: What is going to be different with Clario vs individual companies ERT & Bioclinica? 

Joe Eazor: Clario brings together the best of ERT & Bioclinica: science, global scale, and the broadest endpoint technology platform.

The pandemic taught us serval things:

1. We need to meet patients where they are at while maintaining data quality.
2. Speed and agility are life-saving factors.
3. We need to make the trial process easier for all participants, patients, sponsors, sites, and CROs.
4. In addition, diversity within clinical trials is the only way to ensure medicines are safe and effective for all people. 

At Clario, we are making significant investments in our technology that improves the data quality, speed and the experience of decentralized and hybrid clinical trials. In doing so, we will offer sites and sponsors more clinical trial options, empower patient choice and provide the means to create diversity within clinical trials improving health equity.

Tuba: How do you think this merger will bring a new edge over the competition?

Joe Eazor: There are four key components to our business that give us an edge.

The first is our deep scientific expertise. We have over 200 therapeutic area and endpoint science experts to ensure that science informs our platform. We provide reliability and precision of clinical evidence through science-informed technology across decentralized, hybrid, and site-based clinical trials.

Second, our size and scale enable us to unlock clinical evidence across the globe. With global regulatory expertise, we're capable of collecting evidence in large trials across 120 different countries in more than 100 languages. We have device provisioning and logistics hubs across Europe, Asia, and the Americas, and we provide 24/7 support for patients, sites, sponsors, and CROs. This global reach provides a comprehensive look at how the medicine, medical device, or therapy performs across environments, ethnicities, and cultures, providing the clarity that can better inform regulators and partners alike.

Third, we have the broadest endpoint technology platform, including eCOA, cardiac safety, medical imaging, respiratory, and precision motion. A “broad” technology platform improves start-up efficiency while maintaining consistency and speed in delivery. Broad simplifies trial experiences and operational processes across decentralized, hybrid, and site-based trials. Perhaps what’s most exciting is that  “broad” provides a breakthrough ability to unlock composite endpoints which leads to clinical trials that require fewer patients, cost less, and accelerate timelines.

In addition, our purpose, to transform lives by unlocking better evidence, drives us. My father and brother both suffered from cardiac issues. They died too young. With the science and technology of today, I'm confident they would have lived much longer. Just like my personal story, many of my colleagues have been affected by the incredible successes of clinical trials and the profound personal loss that may have been avoided if a clinical trial or new treatment were available. Our stories, passions, and hopes give us a formidable edge.

Tuba: Are there any new additional services? 

Joe Eazor: We continue to invest in technology that simplifies trial experiences, ensures accuracy and precision of data, and accelerates timelines. The value of these investments is heightened as clinical trials become more complex and trial locations vary from site to home to local clinics.

One example is that we designed parameters within handheld devices to allow patients to test their lung function while staying in their homes. They breathe into the device while the data is shared and stored electronically. Our science-informed technology enables a real-time data loop and lives coaching so a healthcare provider (HCP) can recognize if the patient exhaled properly.

We are also investing in AI technologies to perform faster and more accurate clinical reviews through automation, individualize patient engagement at scale for higher compliance, apply algorithms to detect quality issues or disease progression, and other innovations to enhance the conduct of clinical trials.

Tuba: Discuss Clario's endpoint technology platform

Joe Eazor: As I previously outlined about our endpoint technology platform, we have the broadest endpoint technology platform, including eCOA, cardiac safety, medical imaging, respiratory, and precision motion. These best-of-breed technologies enable data capture and analysis to support meaningful endpoints across all major therapeutic areas.

Tuba: Discuss Clario's Trial Anywhere. Highlight its ability to execute decentralized, hybrid, and site-based clinical trials.

Joe Eazor: The pandemic forced the proliferation of decentralized and hybrid clinical trials. Clario can deliver Trial Anywhere, the ability to execute decentralized, hybrid, and site-based clinical trials while maintaining reliability and precision of clinical evidence.

This Trial Anywhere approach allows our customers to conduct clinical trials in a home, at local clinics, via a home health provider, or at a site. Innovation like this is impactful because it offers sites and sponsors more clinical trial options, empowers patient choice, and provides the means to create diversity within clinical trials, thus improving global health equity.

Image Source: Passport Health

About Author: Joe Eazor is the CEO of Clario. Joe currently serves on the board of Discover Financial Services. He has over 30 years of leadership experience in the technology and healthcare technology sectors. He holds a Bachelor's degree in engineering from the Colorado School of Mines and a Master's in Business Administration from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business

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