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W2O has launched Hū, which bills itself as the first-of-its-kind patient activation organization.
Hū takes aim at people’s unwillingness to participate in clinical trials, which threatens the development of new vaccines, therapeutic and medical device breakthroughs.
The willingness to take part in clinical trials has plunged from 85 percent to 49 percent during the past year, according to CenterWatch.
Hū wants to spur a new era of patient activism and engagement via the use of data, behavioral, economic and decision science to unlock drivers of human behavior, W2O’s announcement said.
“We’re at an inflection point where the consumerization of healthcare and the changes in attitude accelerated by COVID-19 demand that we take meaningful action to amplify the patient voice as a driver of R&D success," said April Lewis, executive VP and GM of Hū.
She said Hū is not bound to the way things have been done and is “free to reimagine the potential of clinical trials and bring them to life in ways that will reshape how we think about, organize and conduct them.”
W2O is O'Dwyer's No. 1 ranked independent healthcare PR firm with fees of $218.9M in 2019.
A breakthrough is not successful merely because it works. It succeeds when people and health systems can actually use it.
Jim Weiss, founder & chairman of Real Chemistry, has joined the board of ICR Inc. as it steps up its healthcare capital markets offering.
Ruder Finn has hired Kelly Yoder, who spent a dozen years at Weber Shandwick rising to North America health lead, as managing director, global head of health & life sciences.
ICR has named John Capodanno head of US healthcare corporate communications and Matthew Willey managing director in its medical technology and diagnostics practice. 
April is National Minority Health Month, spotlighting the urgency to improve health outcomes in communities of color.
