Finding cures, with your help

Their motto is "Medical Research Close to Home."
Meridien Research is the brainchild of Medical Director Mildred Farmer, MD and CEO Cathy Collins, RN, MSN. The two women opened the first center in St. Petersburg in 2000 when they saw "a great need for clinical research." They have since opened centers in Tampa, Brooksville and Bradenton with a combined patient database of more than 8,000 participants.
Meridien helps pharmaceutical companies test potential new drugs, specializing in central nervous system disorders, nutrition, women's health and general internal medicine. They have tested vitamins, and even tested the "Frosted Mini-Wheats" advertised as helping children stay "full and focused." While their clinical trial participants are primarily ages 18 to 90, they occasionally do studies requiring younger contributors, such as trials with children having Down syndrome, teenagers suffering acne, behavioral studies and possibly a future migraine study. They are presently monitoring more than a dozen studies.
Farmer is board certified in internal medicine and fellowship trained in geriatrics. She has been a principal investigator for more than 500 trials in various therapeutic areas. She professes particular expertise in cognitive impairment, from age-associated memory impairment to severe dementia, as well as extensive experience in memory, mood disorders, women's health, migraine, smoking cessation, nutrition, geriatrics, and metabolic studies including lipid disorders, diabetes and hypertension.
Farmer says she loves her work, finding inspiration in each breakthrough, especially in the development of Alzheimer's medications. "It's been a great experience," she adds. "Alzheimer's trials are very complicated and expensive, requiring a lot of staff. It's very important to get people to participate in this research. It can take another seven years to get a drug approved by the FDA once it gets into clinical trials. Our mantra is "collecting high-quality data in a timely fashion." We need all kinds of people, including those taking medication and those who aren't."
Collins has a master's degree in nursing, was vice president of two national research companies, and taught nursing education at the University of South Florida. She handles the human resource, financial, business and property responsibilities. She says she and Farmer have a great working relationship.
"When we started, we didn't even have a business plan," she discloses. "We felt our synergy just worked. It was magic. We were very successful with our first center in St. Pete. We are very careful and calculated about our business ventures, and have never had to lay anybody off."
Collins and Farmer both claim extensive experience with FDA audits and credit their professional staff with maintaining the highest operational standards. Collins emphasizes, "We have great, long-term employees. We offer an excellent benefit package and positive working environment. It's a growth experience. We value our employees and want them to be professionally satisfied through their work here."
Each center has a site director, regulatory specialist, recruitment specialist, research assistants and a lab technician. Investigators see patients in the Meridien office. Each site operates independently under a set of standard operating procedures. Initial study contact and study contracting are handled through the corporate office in St. Petersburg. In addition to principal investigator Farmer, their Brooksville staff includes five board certified sub-investigators: James Andersen, MD (family practice), Donna Bennett, MD (gynecology), Ganesh Chari, MD (neurology), Damodar Kanuri, MD (gastroenterology), and Leo Yason, MD (psychiatry).
Their positive atmosphere extends to how staff interacts with trial participants.
"We greet our participants with open arms," Farmer says. "We offer them coffee, and make them feel like they want to come back."
Developing and maintaining positive relationships helps Meridien provide quality, timely data, she says.
"This is the best job in the world," Farmer says. "So many people today can't afford help. We pay them and help them at the same time. It's a win-win situation for them, us and the sponsor. We all like what we do, which makes it easy to do it."
Farmer adds there is "a lot of altruism in some participants. They are helping other people. Some Alzheimer's participants are at the end stage of life, yet are helping find a cure for future generations. That is pure altruism."
Collins agrees that helping the Alzheimer's patients is one of the most rewarding parts of her work.
"We make them feel important and valued, and have a lot of fun with them. They are always treated with dignity and respect."
For information on participating in a study, call Meridien. Their Web site has information on current studies as well as more information on their staff, facilities and philosophies.

Biz at a glance:
Name - Meridien Research
Location - 16176 Cortez Blvd., Brooksville
Telephone - 352-597-8839
Web site - www.newstudyinfo.com