Clinical Research In Ukraine with Anna Titkova

Clinical Research In Ukraine with Anna Titkova

Christina: hello everyone and welcome to another episode of I am Christina Diarcangelo and today I am so honored and I'm elated to be able to have a guest on the show who's actually from the Ukraine and we're going to be talking about different things as it relates to clinical research in the Ukraine and my guest today is Anna, Anna thank you so much for joining us today.

Anna: thank you very much for your invitation, thank you for having me with you today.

Christina: absolutely I was so glad that we connected on LinkedIn and I thought immediately you know what it would be awesome to have you on the podcast so that you can talk about some things that we might not be aware of in the United States or anywhere actually because my podcast is global so this was a great opportunity for you to talk about some of the things that you're seeing as it relates to clinical research in the Ukraine so thank you so much again Anna for joining us today.

Anna: Likewise, thank you.

Christina: so Anna why don't you tell our viewers um and our people who listen to the podcast because you can either watch it or you can listen to it would you mind letting everyone know your background where you've come from what you've kind of been doing what are you doing currently and then we can kind of just get into it does that sound okay

Anna,yeah thank you very much so a little bit, about myself my name is Anna, a Ukrainian I was born in Ukraine in the city is on the east of Ukraine my childhood dream was to become adopt and put in all this my forces to achieve I uh radiated from the national Medical University and then combine my medical practical clinical idea and practice with scientific work I received some PhD degree, Professor title I had a lot of publishing works and Publications patterns but uh maybe five six years ago I started to participate in clinical researchers starting from the sub investigator role and then step by step I understand that this is the main place where I can combine my clinical and practical knowledge with this my scientific approach so this is the place actually where I can see the contribution that science can give to our people to our patients in the real time exactly today exactly now and exactly with some their Pathologists and in 2020 when the covet pandemic was announced I organized the part of the international site Network organization right here on the territory of Ukraine and during the first two years we created a clinical research side this was the first in the country the Smo clinical research site in parking we received all the legalization let's say Authority approvals after that we started clinical research which is completed, republishment for furniture so the my life goal was finally putting into the creation of this our Medical Center where I would was able to bring this message the message to my people to our employees so clinical research stuff the eyes uh what is the main goal why we're doing this our European clinical researchers and in parallel practice.

Christina: so you were running a bunch of clinical studies what therapeutic areas were you focused on with your clinical research studies that you were running and by the way I love the fact that you wanted to bring the research to your patients in the communities that you served across the five cities that's amazing because it's brave to do that you're a woman doing this you know you obviously have a team of people um but you did this and you were successful at creating the site management organization they went across all these cities prior to everything happening later on which we're going to get to.

Anna: yeah yeah you you you're absolutely right and maybe just that that practice in Ukraine it is a part of the international side Network we are operated in six European countries and in Ukraine this was a Greenfield business so everything really as you mentioned it was done from one paper of registration of two companies exactly on the first week after the full lockdown was covered and I was alone who was working in establishment and creating of two companies that I believe successful at the end because we have more than 20 clinical researchers we were the world's best record vaccination uh that period of time so really it was uh it was my place of energy of patients that that I use and was trying to send to my people who was also new people just created by me. Gathering all together around our mission the mission of our company and put the clinical researches closer to our patients in Ukraine.

Christina; yeah and here you are you start this endeavor and the pandemic hits like you said you were by yourself and that's kind of scary you know like oh my god did I do the right thing by starting this com this organization um during this time and yes it was the right thing not only did you step up you moved forward with covid treatment you know covid protocols I'll just call it covid protocol um and that was to help humankind because we were in a crisis across the globe with covet and you know we were I was working on covid also you  know March 2020 was when I did my first filing it was March 30th of 2020 when we only had 265000 cases worldwide that was it March 30th 2020. I have a photographic memory that's why I can push these numbers back at you to you know like I don't have notes it's just my brain so I get it like here now you're working in covid you're helping you're humankind and you're doing it internationally across six other countries that are working alongside you this is this is amazing I mean that I can't I can't commend you even any more that I mean honestly that is huge.

Anna: yeah yeah thank you thank you for such recognition and the estimation.

Christina: yeah it's huge it's a big deal and so then you're working in covid and you're working along and then now what happens what happens to your country.

Anna: yeah at 4 45 a.m in the morning on the 24th of February an unpredictable situation that no one believed in no one was prepared for it yet in hour on our land here the war started and it was here it was unbelievable no one couldn't imagine that it might be and what to do uh at 4:41 maybe uh in the morning after the announcement was on TV from our authorities that really the war has started my first idea and thought was somehow to help my employees to receive their salaries to receive some financial payment because we were not aware at local how long will be the internet connection uh mobile connections yeah yeah so what will the next next second not even next minute and yeah we paid our employees very remotely very quickly it was at 5am in the morning of the salaries and after that we prolonged to pay them for three months as well even without Europe uh and yeah after that if you're trying to be in touch of course no one couldn't say what to do and what will be his next actions but maybe now it will be good to say like an assumption of this one a year so during this one year we managed to to save our businesses so it's still alive and it's still working uh we were able to have our people and they are um of course not overloaded with the bureau but at least for some period of time we paid them their salaries and uh we continue performing clinical researches that we are ongoing um in Ukraine

Christina: you said that you um were able to to save your business which is and I got chills when you were talking about this I had chills up and down because I can't even imagine you know waking up in the morning at 4:41 a.m and hearing strikes going on and this mass chaos and now we're blacked out and we we don't know what's going on and you're running a business that you just started not too long prior and you're in the midst of everything you're running clinical studies and the stuff hits the fan right now you're in a war now in biotech and pharmaceuticals in my limited experience because it's only will be 25 years this may I was never involved in clinical studies when there was a war okay never I've I worked back in the day this is going to date me way back to when I was working at Johnson and Johnson and SARS happened do you remember when SARS happened and we were running Global Studies and we could only talk to our doctors on like Thursday mornings at this unseen insane time compared to our time zone over here to them to be able to talk to them about our clinical patients right so you're running studies and now you're in a war you're responsible to the sponsor companies you know the biotech and Pharma companies to be able to communicate with them as to what's going on but you're in a war how are you keeping these patients also first off how are you communicating with them but the sponsors but also how are you keeping these people in the studies I would be terrified I wouldn't want to come out of my house

Anna: yeah I might tell you even more that uh we have so responsible our patients that they were feeling their their Diaries in the bomb shelters uh in any other places that at the end when they finish their one year participation we receive almost 90 percentage compliance of filling all this uh yes sources let's say and so of course for the first few months we've had such a blackout as you said any Corporation any communication with no one I mean with sponsors with no one who we can receive zeros any feedback what to do how to continue after that of course in few months we'll start to receive first messages of course we always were um online with our patients messages calling them by phones so at least we know where they are and what they are doing at the same time maybe also mentioned about my employees that Harkey was the first city to be bombed and heavily want for the whole year and some of my employees they lost their homes and our Clinic they claimed their place of living so it was also our decision because we have our Innovation Department with beds with words and this will become a home for uh for some people also but uh to be for some period of time there it was also some our decision but to make and to help them to survive in this period of time after that we try and to find the solutions for our patients there are a lot of relaxations internal anxiety praying outside of Ukraine and elsewhere International Organization will have this opportunity to host patients in Poland on police side as the most um will closer country to Ukraine and 14 patients they were relocated and continue participation in Poland so without any interruptions on their treatment mostly oncological patients for whom it's the life of saving therapy to continue multiple sclerosis um some rare diseases so they were able to continue participation on our practice sites in Poland so this was also one of the directions what to do and how to help people to continue and to to fight with their disease you know clinical research is already hard enough. right it's hard enough to run a proper clinical study making sure one you enroll the proper patients with the right therapeutic area with the right primary secondary type things that you're trying to study meeting all inclusion exclusion criteria that in itself is hard right also keeping patients in the study once you find them that's also hard right but then also all the administrative tasks you have to do working on a clinical study electronic data capture all the source documentations you have to keep the central lab data or local lab whatever you're using all those things you have to capture okay I'm saying all this so that that because some of of our viewers are not us right they don't run clinical studies they don't know so I'm just reminding them of all those difficult things right and I've talked about studies that I've worked on where we've had tough recruitment right where it was hard to find these patients based on whatever the therapeutic area was we have never I have never in my career had to work as I mentioned earlier had to work on a study where I had clinical trial sites in in a Zone that's in a war so you had to become almost no pun intended to and I mean no disrespect to the Armed Forces but you almost became a soldier so to speak because you had to triage you know okay I've got to move this patient here over here over here over here over here okay now my employees Holmes got blown up in this one city where are they going to live we have to support them because we are a family so we're going to help themso now we have to help them get into this you know into our facility full time we've got to make some changes there so they can live there obviously you had most of it already set up but you still had stuff to do and then once everything kind of came back online and you weren't blacked out anymore now you have to go and report back to the sponsor or sponsors because you're working on more than one you have to report back to them everything that was going on where all your subjects were so they could also relax because I'm sure you know being on the sponsor side for as many years as I have been in my career moving then into the CRO life I know what it's like right you know it's very you get nervous like what's going on with the site and they're concerned for you and your safety and your teams and all their patients they're your patients but they become the sponsors patients too are all impacted by this yeah how did you sleep at night did you sleep at all. I mean I mean you look great but I mean come on how did how did you do all this cause this is like wow!

Anna: yeah you're absolutely right and all of these my few sentences may be calculating what uh What uh we are done it's just a tremendous rock that was done and can is continuing to be doing uh in our company there but um for me you know as I mentioned before this creation of this our company and the territory of Ukraine it was uh and it became my live goal and for me level is something that not uh make you asleep late at night but something that makes you wake up early in the morning and for me this was perhaps the main message that uh this is the mission uh for me this is the mission to uh to bring this business and to make it alive and from the moment I did it there was no doubt in my mind at all that perhaps I am doing the most important and valuable sin in my life that I have ever done before and for me the most the biggest estimation maybe of this my attitude was the messages from my workers that there's still uh waiting to return back to their full-time work to return back to Hurricane to our clinical research side because some of them are somewhere abroad somewhere some of them are not in curriculum at the same time but all of them are waiting for returning back and making this uh point for them a place that they understand that they have something where someone is waiting for them but they have this place to return back to their life that they all of us had before so maybe this is also one of these many messages while still struggling with this reality trying to to continue to show that it's possible one day we will come to this final stage and maybe it will be a story as a story of War of each of us but at least this is a test on Humanity oh we should and what will be at the end we will see

Christina: Absolutely and I've got to say you I I this is our first time meeting um over you know in person so to speak you know we were corresponding over LinkedIn and then email one of the things that I feel like I'm really oh boy this is this I can't even believe all this um and I knew you had a big story trust me because I could tell you know but I feel as though your life's purpose was to honor patients right and this all this happening to you as crazy as it is ike this is crazy you were in a war, you're still a you know the pandemic starting a company the pandemic you know everything you did was intentional with your career but this this here this was your life's purpose your life's purpose is to heal people and to help people not only your patience but your teams and all your staff I loved how you said I want my people to have a place to come back to somebody's waiting for them there that's so huge that's so huge and not many people in your position in a a CEO you know not many people with all the accliments that you have does that that is special and so I just wanted to make sure that you know I I called that out because I could tell you're not somebody that's gonna like puff it up and say well I did all these things because whatever like superwoman because you are a superwoman, okay no you are but you've got to re you know I I would I would encourage you to remember this conversation we're having today you should be proud of everything you've done I mean you really got in there and you've been doing an amazing job and you've been doing it time and time again no matter how horrible things have been going on and things were out of your control you kept going you persevered.

Anna: yeah and I'm lucky to have people around me who believe also in our these activities who believe in our mission people are inside prachia Global who decided to continue this our activities and to have this year not profitable business for now of course obviously not profitable but at the and to make this human factor on the top of financial numbers and I'm lucky that I have this people of the same level of values as I have and due to such cooperation due to such relations people all around the world as you and table School may have this possibility to speak we will definitely bring the victory on our land.

Christina: yes absolutely and I think you know there's going to be some potential for us to collaborate in the future um because as I mentioned when we were talking there's some things we're working on and um they're humanitarian type efforts from a clinical research standpoint so um I think that there might be some opportunities for us to work together in the future and I'd also you know as we progress through the year and we see what happens over there in the Ukraine. I'd love to have you back on again so that we could talk some more where are we now right you know this is April 19th.

Anna: thank you thank you, thank you very much thank you for this time today thank you for conversation and we will definitely meet again in the latest Future.

Christina: Absolutely, absolutely and and if there's anything I can do to help you I mean this Anna okay I'm happy to help you in any any absolute way that's why when you reached out to me I was like oh I know what can happen right we can I can have you on the podcast and we could talk about this on the podcast so that it can help give you some legs um and we talked about the magazine so anything at all Anna, please.

Anna: Thank you very much, I just need to leave our office here but I will be in touch, I will write you a message.

Christina: Okay, awesome well I just want to thank you so so very much for being on with me today we have different time zones obviously here so I just wanted to thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to be on with me today and for sharing your story it's it's uh you know this is wow that's I mean I don't even know how what else to say thank you thank you very much thanks to such people as you who have the strength to continue not to give up and to bring this uh mission of good of um something yeah bright and light at the end of this tunnel absolutely it's it's love and light you know like we have to stay focused on the positive because if we get too far into the negative which you could have done during this process and I know it was very very tough you didn't you kept going forward and you kept staying positive even through all these terrible trials and tribulations and man you know 10 years to come from this time you'll 10 years to come from this time you'll be able to share all these things and help so many people people are going to look back on this time and the things that you've done and how you progress things and how you're changing history in the Ukraine with your research that is amazing in us so I commend you for all these.

Anna: Thank you very much thank you thank you very much and many people will have another podcast speaking about next steps

Christina: Absolutely so with that as we always say remember we are the same thank you so much for joining us today I am Christina Diarcangelo