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As the hype around so-called siteless trials continues unabated, two trial tech firms are joining forces to tap social media influencers to help push more patients into studies.

The pair: decentralized clinical research company Thread and trial recruitment firm CureClick. They say their new pact will allow sponsors and contract research organizations to “access the power of patient activist-driven crowdsourcing to improve recruitment” in virtual trials.

They will do this by tapping as yet unnamed social media influencers by combining Thread’s platform with CureClick’s network of more than 100,000 so-called patient activists and advocates.

This will presumably be for a younger generation of patients; the pair did not say what sort of trials they were planning to tackle. But it provides a new way of tapping into the tough trial recruitment area, which has always proven a major barrier in drug development.

“We are excited for this partnership to advance recruitment for DCTs,” said Fabio Gratton, CEO of CureClick. “THREAD is the leading DCT provider, and by joining forces, we can better fulfill our mission to help life science organizations recruit patients faster while ensuring they have the best possible experience at every step.”

“We have great admiration for CureClick’s ability to drive exceptional recruitment outcomes through its ambassador network of patient activists,” added John Reites, CEO of Thread. “Having worked successfully with CureClick on several studies in the past, we are excited to deepen our collective impact on DCTs through a more formal partnership.”