By Arriana McLymore
(Reuters) – Walmart said on Tuesday it would begin to help drug companies and research firms identify and recruit individuals to fill their clinical trials, pitting it against rivals Walgreens and CVS Health Group .
Walmart Healthcare Research Institute, the largest U.S. retailer’s new healthcare research service, will find participants for clinical trials, and Walmart also host MyHealthJourney, a patient portal that helps people find upcoming research trials and track their care.
Walmart’s expansion into clinical trial recruitment could bring it new streams of revenue from drug companies.
John Wigneswaran, Walmart’s chief medical officer, said the retailer’s clinics and pharmacies will become a “funnel” for healthcare organizations that want access to its diverse populations of customers for possible trials and studies.
Patient-recruitment is difficult in clinical trials. Studies can be delayed or terminated when organizations are not able to get enough people to participate or when patients drop out of the trial.
Senior citizens, rural populations, women and people of color in the U.S. are often left out of clinical research because they lack awareness of trials and access to facilities.
Walmart is currently working with Laina Enterprises, a virtual clinical trial management platform, the retailer said in a press release.
Rival Walgreens said in June it had launched clinical trial services to increase diversity in test subjects. A company spokesperson said Walgreens is in talks with “many leading pharmaceutical companies” to help with patient recruitment, virtual or hybrid clinical trials and diversity initiatives.
According to a database of U.S. clinical trials seen by Reuters, Walgreens worked with the University of North Texas Health Science Center starting in 2018 for a study on African American HIV patients.
Walmart has previously said it wants to focus more on its high-margin businesses including healthcare, financial services and advertising.
“Walgreens is making a push to utilize their stores to reach their more diverse population in their clinical trials, so it seems feasible that that’s something that Walmart may eventually want to do as well,” said Carri Chan, a professor at Columbia Business School.
Walmart opened Walmart Health locations in Dallas, Georgia in 2019 and now has 24 locations including in Arkansas, Florida and Illinois. In September, Walmart said it would partner with UnitedHealth Group to provide preventative healthcare to elderly populations and telehealth services for all age groups.
Meanwhile, CVS Health began offering clinical trials in 2021. CVS Health Clinical Trial Services General Manager Tony Clapsis told Reuters drug companies bear much of the costs, although some costs might get picked up by Medicare, Medicaid or a commercial health plan.
CVS has since conducted studies to track the emergence of COVID-19 variants while under contract to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, according to its website.
It also is working on a flu study and collaborating with Pfizer to recruit 600 participants for a study to determine the long-term effects of COVID-19, according to patient recruitment listing seen by Reuters.
(Reporting by Arriana McLymore; Editing by Lincoln Feast)
