Cenral Ohio Primary Care Physicians Annunces Expansion of Clinical Research Center and Selection of Altura as a Service Provider

Columbus, OH – After a busy year developing the research infrastructure within the medical group and successfully completing numerous Phase III clinical trials, Central Ohio Primary Care Physicians (COPC) is expanding their ability to support study sponsors and CROs with conducting Phase II-IV clinical trials.

In order to aid the growth of their vision, Altura, LLC has been selected by COPC to provide selected services including support with strategic sponsor relations related to enhanced patient recruitment initiatives. Altura, based in Aliso Viejo, CA, provides clinical research services to medical groups, managed care organizations as well as specialized primary care and managed care based patient recruitment services for study sponsors (www.altura2000.com).

COPC, with its physicians serving the medical needs of the community for more than 25 years, is a primary care-based physician owned and operated organization that manages the healthcare of over 300,000 patients. The model includes more than 110 primary care and selected specialty physicians. Bruce Wall, MD, Clinical Research Director and Principal Investigator of COPC, notes, "we feel our health care delivery model coupled with our successful research structure provides the clinical research industry a strong tool for the patient recruitment and retention challenges that exist. The missing link has been the appropriate involvement of primary care physicians in structured health care settings."

Says Pete Fronte, President of Altura, "COPC’s leadership has made an investment and commitment to build an attractive study site that incorporates not only trained investigators and study coordinators, but also effectively links primary care physicians to clinical research. This is an excellent model for enhancing patient recruitment and retention while ensuring patient safety and continuity of care."

COPC’s Clinical Research Center maintains various facilities throughout Columbus. In well-equipped, modern facilities, the research staff conducts drug and disease management research for its pharmaceutical, biotech and medical-device clients.

According to Dr. Wall, "We are currently conducting Phase II-IV clinical trials, as well as outcome studies and database analysis with a team of investigators experienced in clinical trials. Given the development of our research structure, we are now ready to take on more studies."

Onsite research center facilities include dedicated administrative and clinical research offices, in-house IT staff and Internet access, secure medical records and drug storage, multiple examination rooms, equipment for processing specimens for transport to a central laboratory, and research facilities/equipment for specific studies. The centralized research center handles regulatory processing, adverse event reporting, patient recruitment, the qualification and training of investigators and clinical research coordinators, as well as quality assurance and all contractual and budgetary functions. Investigators are also able to access a full range of medical services and equipment at medical offices throughout the Columbus area, including, outpatient clinics, laboratory processing centers and radiology departments (with CT scanners, ultrasound, X-ray and DEXA scanning).

Dr. Wall notes, "Our research investigators are interested in conducting more studies in the following therapeutic areas: cardiovascular, endocrinology, gastrointestinal, anti-infectives, pediatrics, internal medicine and family practice, rheumatology, musculoskeletal, pain management, psychiatry, immediate and urgent care conditions, allergy and asthma, pulmonology, dermatology, and podiatry. Additionally, our proven systems allow us to collect clean, comprehensive data while meeting applicable regulatory requirements and complying with guidelines such as Good Clinical Practices."

Pharmaceutical companies, CROs and other research sponsors interested in more information should contact Margie Haley at (614) 326-5281 or by e-mail.

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