Quintiles announced the formation of its new Digital Patient unit, which brings together the company’s online communities and digital expertise to directly engage patients.

The goal of this new organization is to provide patients with information to better manage their personal health and to provide them with opportunities to participate in clinical research, observational studies, and programs to better manage their conditions.

“Today, patients are as likely to seek information online about personal health as they are about the weather,” says David Coman, senior vice president at Quintiles and head of its new Digital Patient unit. “By unifying our digital patient resources, we will be better able to deliver proper content to patients while providing our customers with a more efficient channel to find the appropriate people who may be interested in participating in clinical, observational or disease management programs.”

At the core of Quintiles’ new Digital Patient unit is its ability to recruit patients by combing the digital universe for patients seeking information to manage their health, and its two patient communities, www.MediGuard.org (2.5 million registered users) and www.ClinicalResearch.com (165 thousand registered users). Quintiles recently initiated a campaign to encourage former Google Health users to its MediGuard online medication monitoring service.

MediGuard.org is a free medication monitoring service that provides patients with safety alerts, drug recalls, updates and checks for possible drug interactions. ClinicalResearch.com serves as an information resource with a mission of increasing awareness, understanding and participation in clinical research.