By Clinical Research News Staff 

August 27, 2024 | On Monday last week, Walgreens and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a part of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announced a strategic partnership to further the Decentralized Clinical Operations for Healthcare and Research (D-COHRe) program.  

The D-COHRe program aims to enhance clinical study capabilities by partnering with organizations focused on providing decentralized clinical care, making it more easily accessible for patients. The program also provides support for the development of US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-related products, enhances clinical innovation for more efficient and relevant research, and evaluates countermeasures and their effectiveness in real world situations and environments so that they may be used during public health emergencies. According to the announcement, this first-of-its-kind partnership will utilize Walgreens Clinical Trials and BARDA’s expertise to address barriers in decentralized clinical trial access and conduct trials over a five-year period. The D-COHRe program is valued up to $100 million. 

Since its launch in June 2022, Walgreens Clinical Trials has proven that its efforts and system are effective at increasing accessibility and diversity, with over five million patients potentially recruited into clinical trials. As of August 2024, Walgreens has more than 26 unique customers across biopharma, academic, non-profit, and government partners. Through this partnership, BARDA hopes to expand to diverse populations and help with future public health emergencies via decentralized clinical trial settings like Walgreens community pharmacies.  

The two organizations have already collaborated on Project NextGen back in July 2024, where BARDA awarded $25 million to Walgreens to conduct a Phase IV observational clinical study on assessing responses to COVID-19 vaccines and how well a vaccinated person will be protected from future infections.  

Walgreens’ Chief Clinical Trials Officer Ramita Tandon comments, “It is a privilege to continue our partnership with BARDA to strengthen clinical research in the U.S. through a decentralized model in a community pharmacy setting like Walgreens. Our network of community pharmacies and our compliant and secure clinical trial platform enables us to pioneer a comprehensive solution to make clinical research an integral part of a patient’s healthcare journey, especially when it is most critical for the well-being of our country, during a public health emergency.”