Kroger Health, the healthcare division of supermarket giant Kroger, has launched a new clinical trial site network for trials studying colorectal cancer gut and immune health observation.
Kroger Health is working with pharmaceutical industry sponsors, contract research organizations and health systems. Kroger Health is collaborating with Persephone Biosciences in active recruitment for the ARGONAUT clinical study to identify microbiome-based biomarkers indicative of colorectal cancer. Select Kroger pharmacies in Toledo, Ohio, and its affiliate, The Little Clinic, will enroll an initial cohort of 55 people with a variety of colorectal cancer risk levels in a clinical trial to better understand gut and immune health. Kroger Health plans to enroll more participants in more locations down the line.
Kroger’s latest move underscores how large companies in other industries are making their way into the healthcare space. CVS Health has been a leader in this transition, increasingly adding healthcare services through ground up operations and acquisitions and moving well beyond just being a retail pharmacy and retailer giant. Similarly, Walmart has added new healthcare services over the last several years, meeting its customers’ health needs within their communities.
Kroger Health is first focusing on colorectal cancer for clinical trial enrollment, as it is one of the leading cancer killers in the United States, the company said. Roughly 9 in 10 people whose colorectal cancer is found early and treated appropriately are still alive five years later, Kroger Health said in a press release.
"With our team of more than 24,000 healthcare professionals, under the umbrella of America's grocer, we are positioned at the nexus of food and healthcare, which provides us with the unique opportunity to increase accessibility to clinical trial opportunities," Colleen Lindholz, Kroger Health president, said in a statement. "As a trusted community healthcare destination, we envision a future where our work transforms the clinical trial landscape and provides expanded trial access to the people we serve."
For the first trial, Kroger Health is seeking participants with different risk factors, including being 45 and older who need their standard of care colonoscopy; those who are 18 or older with one or more first-degree relatives with a history of colorectal cancer; and those who have had three or more polyps found during a colonoscopy or who have a personal history of colorectal cancer. Experts hope the findings in the trial will help develop personalized medicines and find cancer-specific indicators that could guide future treatment and preventive strategies, including using food as medicine.
"Through our collaborations with health systems across the country, we can nimbly work to optimize the patient experience to improve healthcare delivery and maintain continuity of care while expanding the frontiers of care and treatment," said Jim Kirby, PharmD, chief commercial officer of Kroger Health. "This is the first of many clinical trial opportunities that will utilize us as an alternative to the traditional clinical trial and research organization model."
Amy joined TriMed Media as a Senior Writer for HealthExec after covering home care for three years. When not writing about all things healthcare, she fulfills her lifelong dream of becoming a pirate by sailing in regattas and enjoying rum. Fun fact: she sailed 333 miles across Lake Michigan in the Chicago Yacht Club "Race to Mackinac."