Scottsdale-based Matrix Medical Network (Matrix) will be a key enabler in clinical trials of investigational COVID-19 vaccines conducted by the COVID-19 Prevention Network. Matrix Clinical Solutions, through an agreement with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, will provide mobile health clinics to more than 20 academic medical centers to increase access to the investigational vaccines by deploying its mobile clinics and clinicians across the country, focusing on the populations most impacted by COVID-19.
The COVID-19 Prevention Network, supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, aims to enroll thousands of volunteers in large-scale clinical trials testing a variety of investigational vaccines and monoclonal antibodies intended to protect people from COVID-19.
Matrix Medical Network will support critical trial logistics and will accelerate the vaccine development process, while maintaining the highest standards for safety and effectiveness. A major factor in the success of a vaccine trial is identifying eligible volunteers to participate. Speed to delivery is critical based on the need to identify and approve a vaccine to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic at large.
“Our team will help scale the vaccine trials to reach participants, especially minorities and rural populations, by providing increased access for individuals to participate where they may otherwise have limited access to traditional health centers or trial sites,” said Matrix Chief Medical Officer Daniel Castillo, M.D. “In the history of vaccine development, there’s never been an initiative of this magnitude or with as much of a push to safely expedite.”
Matrix‘s mobile health clinics and clinicians will work closely with various universities, hospitals, and other locations across Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Texas, and Washington to reach eligible volunteers. In a typical trial, participants would travel to established sites often affiliated with academic medical centers in major cities. Matrix‘s mobile health clinics will safely extend these sites and meet the volunteers where they are, helping to better ensure that all members of the community, including those with barriers to healthcare access, are included.
“Fred Hutchinson’s depth of expertise in immunology and virology has led us to take an active role in responding to COVID-19, and to be named the coordinating center for vaccine clinical trials of the COVID-19 Prevention Network (CoVPN), said Troy Martin, M.D. M.P.H, Chief of Staff/CoVPN, of Fred Hutch. “The team at Fred Hutchinson is honored to play such an important role in developing safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines, and the partnership with Matrix is allowing us to progress things in a safe and expedient manner.”
