Join RELIANCE as a Community Research Partner!

Start a career in clinical research

A Community Research Partner is a practicing clinician (MD, PA, NP) who treats people with COPD, but doesn’t need to have all of the research infrastructure that a typical clinical trial requires.

To be eligible to be a Community Partner, the clinician undergoes an onboarding process, which involves two teleconferences with the RELIANCE team. 

Community Partners retain the flexibility to select alternate regimens (e.g., starting at a lower dose and titrating up), discontinuing therapy, crossing-over to the alternate treatment, or combining both treatments at any time, as clinically indicated. More information below.

Questions? Please reach out to RELIANCE@uic.edu

Compensation for your time:

Community partners are compensated for the work associated with patients who enroll. Our data show that about 50% of referrals result in enrollments.

RELIANCE is intended to support hospital efforts to reduce the risk of all-cause hospitalization and premature deaths in individuals with COPD.

RELIANCE (Roflumilast or Azithromycin to Prevent Exacerbations) is a U.S.-based pragmatic, comparative effectiveness trial funded by PCORI (the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute) to compare long-term use of roflumilast vs. azithromycin.

Both roflumilast and azithromycin have been shown to reduce the risk of COPD exacerbations compared to placebo.

However, there has not been a head-to-head comparison of the two medications.

What’s in it for early career clinicians?

Community Partners should have a clinic flow that supports at least 20 patient referrals per year.

Networking:

Join a national team of leaders in COPD treatment, readmission prevention, & pulmonary care.

Easy start up:

RELIANCE's IRB doesn't require any additional submissions from you.

RELIANCE uses a single IRB (CHAIRb). Referring clinicians do not require individual regulatory approval from the sIRB. (Your local IRB may require submissions.)

3 easy steps to refer patients to RELIANCE:

Your role as a
Community Research Partner:

Identify potentially eligible patients during routine care (in-person or telehealth).

• Hospitalized for COPD exacerbation or respiratory complications of COVID-19 in the last 12 months;

• Have severe COPD with associated chronic bronchitis;

• Currently take a LAMA, ICS/LABA, or LAMA/LABA;

• May need treatment escalation with either roflumilast or azithromycin (and you have no preference).
  
  

Introduce the RELIANCE study.

• RELIANCE provides materials to help introduce the study.

• If a patient expresses interest, you confirm eligibility and hand them an envelope of RELIANCE materials to support enrollment by the RELIANCE call center.

Submit a 3-minute online referral form. RELIANCE takes it from there!

• The RELIANCE call center confirms interest and eligibility.

• A central study MD writes the first Rx and sends it to your patient’s pharmacy.

More information on the trial

Overview of RELIANCE Trial Design

1. Up to 1,250 people with COPD associated with chronic bronchitis hospitalized for COPD exacerbation in the past 12 months

2. Evaluate guideline-recommended options for preventative care with established efficacy compared with placebo. Chronic azithromycin vs. roflumilast as used in routine care, with randomization to select initial therapy

3. COPD Foundation PPRN-led non-inferiority comparative effectiveness trial, stratified by site and current/past smoking status, followed at least 6 months.

4. Primary outcome: All-cause hospitalization or death (self-report via call center, EHR, claims, NDI, Medicare data in subset)

5. Secondary outcomes:

   • All-cause individual events: hospitalization, emergency department visit, urgent care visit, and death (EHR, claims, self-report, NDI)

   • Single-item PROMIS measures (physical function, sleep disturbance, fatigue, anxiety, depression; self-report)

   • Adverse events (self-report, EHR)

   • Medication adherence (self-report, Medicare data in subset); Crossover (self-report, Medicare data in subset, EHR); Treatment discontinuation (self-report, Medicare data in subset, EHR); Out-of-pocket costs (self-report), Weight (self-report)
     

A pragmatic study - fitting COPD care to real world patient and clinician practices

RELIANCE will assess the combined effects of “real-world” patient and clinician practices plus pharmacologic efficacy in individual patients.

Because RELIANCE is an effectiveness trial, it is inclusive of adverse effects, out-of-pocket costs of medications, co-morbid conditions and other factors that contribute to patient/clinician practices, including dosing, dose-titrations, adherence and treatment discontinuations, cross-overs, and use of co-therapies.

Medications will not be provided to patients. Clinicians will ask the patients to fill the prescription as per usual practice.

Clinicians retain the flexibility to select alternate regimens (e.g., starting at a lower dose and titrating up), discontinuing therapy, crossing-over to the alternate treatment, or combining both treatments at any time, as clinically indicated.

No additional visits are required for RELIANCE participants.

Susan Bleasdale, MD
Chief Quality Officer

Laura Bullock, PharmD
Pharmacy

Judy Corn
American Thoracic Society

Marilyn Hyatt
Caregiver

Patricia Jellen, RN, MSN
Nurse Administrator

John Linnell
Patient

Elisha Malanga
COPD Foundation

Daniel Ouellette, MD
ACCP Guidelines

Susan Rappaport, PhD
American Lung Association

Stephanie Williams, RRT
Respiratory Therapy

Bob Wise, Janet Holbrook, Elizabeth Sugar
Data Coordinating Center (Johns Hopkins University)

Richard Albert, Stephen Rennard
Medication Experts

Richard Mularski, Elisha Malanga, David Mannino, Jean Rommes
COPD Foundation

Jerry Krishnan
Clinical Coordinating Center (University of Illinois Chicago)

Kenneth Quinto, Bradley Hammill, Candace Fuller, Darren Toh
FDA Sentinel Operations Center