Rivka Szafranski
Rivka Szafranski, a 2017 graduate of with a major in psychology and a minor in business and a 2022 summer graduate of the master鈥檚 program in Biotechnology Management and Entrepreneurship (BME) at the , was dedicated to and perfectly positioned to head into the health care industry.
Taking the reins this spring as chief executive officer and lead patient advocate at a startup, (CTG), rather than a more established company, was a leap of faith for her鈥搊ne she eagerly took on because of the potential to benefit patients in need of new treatments and to the advancement of medicine in society as a whole.
CTG is a recently launched site whose goal is to educate, inform and assist patients regarding all facets of the clinical trial process, from enrollment to completion and everything in between.
鈥淏eing diagnosed with a medical condition is one of the most stressful situations one can ever go through,鈥 Szafranski said. 鈥淭here is a dearth of plain-English information available about trials that could be potentially lifesaving. All too often people forgo novel treatments that may be available to them out of lack of awareness or anxiety around the clinical trial process. We want to help the patient find a potential treatment and take the stress out of the entire trial process for them.鈥
Szafranski connected to Clinical Trial Guide last summer through an internship at Rafael Holdings Inc., whose goal is to develop novel cancer therapeutics that have the potential to improve and extend the lives of patients. There she met David Polinsky 鈥93YC, who was Rafael鈥檚 CFO at the time.
鈥淚 was really impressed with Rivka and, after her internship had concluded, I invited her to continue to work with me on developing this resource while she was going back to school to finish her master鈥檚 degree,鈥 Polinsky said.
The philanthropic project that Polinsky was conceptualizing at the time, which became the basis for Clinical Trial Guide, was 鈥渢o develop a way to help those suffering with major unmet medical needs find treatments that could be lifesaving but which they were otherwise unaware of because the treatments had not yet received FDA approval,鈥 he said, specifically referring to 鈥渘ovel drugs in clinical trials.鈥 Polinsky started this passion project based on 鈥渘umerous calls received from patients seeking potentially lifesaving treatments who were entirely unfamiliar with clinical trials or how to find and enroll in a trial.鈥
Right from its launch in April, the company has garnered positive press, like this article from . 鈥淭here is no doubt that once it has been fully rolled out, Clinical Trial Guide will serve a crucial function as a mutual resource both for patients who are looking for treatment options and for the health care organizations that are running trials to educate and inform patients about ongoing trials鈥 Polinsky said.
Szafranski described her responsibilities as 鈥渄oing everything typical in a startup from soup to nuts鈥 and credited her professors in the BME program and the 每日大瓜 Innovation Lab for putting her and Clinical Trial Guide on a solid footing.
鈥淭he background and insights of my professors, many of whom are quite accomplished, have been incredibly helpful,鈥 she observed, adding that 鈥渁 big boost was given to our outreach efforts when the Innovation Lab, under the direction of Dr. Maria Blekher arranged for the students in the marketing master鈥檚 program to do a thorough analysis for Clinical Trial Guide.鈥
Much of the work Szafranski does is focused on ensuring that Clinical Trial Guide becomes known as a resource for patients and families navigating the clinical trial process and ultimately creating an online space where pharma companies can post their trials in plain English and connect with patients.
鈥淚mportantly, Clinical Trial Guide may be an incredible opportunity for pharma companies to speed up clinical trials, which ultimately benefits patients with faster drug approvals,鈥 she said.
Last month, Clinical Trial Guide launched what Szafranski called phase one of its site, which creates a resource for patients and their families in the form of 鈥渁 complete guide to help patients navigate the clinical trial process with constant news updates, articles and webinars.鈥
She described a situation in which a doctor gives a patient a diagnosis of cancer and suggests that the patient review three or four trials and come back with a decision about what to do next: 鈥淭he patient has probably heard the phrase 鈥榗linical trial鈥 but doesn鈥檛 really know much about them or what questions to ask, and the whole thing can seem, and is, simply overwhelming. So, we鈥檒l serve as the guide to help them navigate the clinical trial; in simple language, we鈥檒l tell them what to know, what to look out for, what questions to ask and what things to worry or not worry about.鈥
In phase two, according to Szafranski, Clinical Trial Guide will 鈥渂uild partnerships with pharma companies, thereby enabling them to post descriptions of ongoing clinical trials in clear and simple language so that patients can understand them well enough to differentiate between trials and find one that is suitable for them.鈥
Much of the work on Szafranski鈥檚 to-do list involves building out the connections with pharma companies and their clinical trial professionals in order to understand their needs. 鈥淧harma companies could save significant amounts of time (and money) on recruiting patients by using Clinical Trial Guide to gain access to patients who are using our site as a resource,鈥 she said. 鈥淭his in turn would get drugs to market significantly faster, helping out a much wider patient base.鈥
The biggest challenge Szafranski sees at the moment is reaching out to the pharmaceutical companies and getting them comfortable working with a young company like Clinical Trial Guide. 鈥淭hese pharma companies have been doing this for a long time, and this is a different model,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 take every conversation I can get,鈥 she added.
In an example of pharma industry interest, Szafranski said a major international pharma company that had seen the Fierce Biotech article contacted her 鈥渁bout partnering and wanting to learn more about our site, which was exciting,鈥 she said. 鈥淲hen a major company like that reaches out and commends our efforts, it validates our approach of focusing on the patient.鈥
Because many patients enroll in a clinical trial without fully realizing the commitment involved and then drop out once they learn what will be required, patient education is an important component of drug development, she explained. By better informing patients about their options, the rate of turnover can be reduced, which in turn helps reduce the costs of drug development, allowing novel therapies to get to patients a lot faster.
鈥淏eing fully informed,鈥 Szafranski explained, 鈥渨ill not only help with recruitment but also with maintaining the patient and the trial 鈥 all of which ultimately benefits the greatest number of patients.鈥
Rivka Szafranski
