• This study aims to enhance U.S. public health preparedness through Walgreens community pharmacy network, improving access and diversity in clinical trials via a $25m award

DEERFIELD, Ill. / Jul 23, 2024 / Business Wire / Walgreens today announced it received a project award valued up to $25 million through the Rapid Response Partnership Vehicle (RRPV) to conduct a Phase IV observational clinical study focused on assessing Correlates of Protection (CoP), known as responses to a vaccine that predict how well a vaccinated person will be protected from future infections, using COVID-19 vaccine data. The RRPV is a Consortium funded by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). This partnership underscores a shared commitment to advancing public health through innovative research and leveraging Walgreens’ extensive community pharmacies to increase access and representation in clinical trials.

As a leading community pharmacy and front door to the U.S. healthcare system, Walgreens played a pivotal role in the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and testing throughout the pandemic. Walgreens has administered over 90 million COVID-19 vaccinations to date, showcasing its capacity to handle large-scale health initiatives. Building on this experience, through this collaboration, the BARDA-funded study will utilize select Walgreens community pharmacies as clinical trial sites to assess the effectiveness of FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccines. This initiative aims to enhance access to clinical research across diverse patient populations, particularly in communities historically underrepresented in clinical trials.

“We are honored to be selected by BARDA and its RRPV for this important study as this is a step forward to utilize public and private partnerships to bring clinical trials into more communities across the country,” said Ramita Tandon, chief clinical trials officer at Walgreens. “With our experience in immunizations and trusted relationship with millions of patients and customers, Walgreens is uniquely positioned to support this critical research. As the only retail pharmacy with a national decentralized clinical trial infrastructure and dedicated clinical research staff, we are committed to helping enhance public health preparedness.”

Walgreens will employ a comprehensive approach to participant recruitment, which will leverage its physical footprint in addition to its compliant and secure decentralized clinical trial platform to reach patients where it’s most convenient for them. The study will enroll up to 4,000 participants across 20 retail pharmacy locations nationwide, ensuring a diverse and representative study population.

Funding for this award was received under Project NextGen, a $5 billion initiative by HHS to advance a pipeline of new, innovative vaccines and therapeutics providing broader and more durable protection for COVID-19 than the first-generation COVID vaccines and medicines. BARDA is supporting the development of new vaccines, therapeutics, and enabling technologies to better address the waning immunity and resistance to current and future SARS-CoV2 viral strains.

This project is being funded with federal funds from the Department of Health and Human Services; Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR); Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), under Other Transaction (OT) number: 75A50123D00005.

About Walgreens

Walgreens (http://www.walgreens.com) is included in the U.S. Retail Pharmacy and U.S. Healthcare segments of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (Nasdaq: WBA), an integrated healthcare, pharmacy and retail leader. True to its purpose of “more joyful lives through better health,” Walgreens has a more than 120-year heritage of caring for communities and providing trusted pharmacy services, and today is playing a greater role as an independent partner of choice offering healthcare services that improve care, lower costs, and help patients. Operating nearly 9,000 retail locations across the U.S. and Puerto Rico, Walgreens is proud to serve nearly 9 million customers and patients daily. The company’s pharmacists are playing a more critical role in healthcare than ever before, providing a wide range of pharmacy and healthcare services, including those that drive equitable access to care for some of the nation’s most underserved populations. Walgreens offers customers and patients a true omnichannel experience, with fully integrated physical and digital platforms designed to deliver high-quality products and healthcare services. Within the U.S. Healthcare segment, Walgreens portfolio also includes businesses in primary care, multi-specialty, post-acute care, urgent care, specialty pharmacy services, population health and provider enablement.