The Reagan-Udall Foundation for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is a nonprofit organization created by Congress to advance regulatory science and support the FDA's public health mission. One of its key initiatives is the Expanded Access Navigator (EA Navigator), which helps patients, physicians, and pharmaceutical companies understand and navigate the process of obtaining investigational therapies through the FDA's Expanded Access Program.
The Foundation wanted to enhance the EA Navigator by making clinical trial information more accessible. Previously, users searching the Company Directory were redirected to ClinicalTrials.gov to view expanded access programs. Reagan-Udall sought to create a more seamless user experience by integrating this data directly into the website while also enabling patients to search by medical condition or drug name instead of only by company.
About the project
The primary goal of the project was to modernize the Expanded Access Navigator while improving access to critical information for patients and healthcare providers. Key requirements included upgrading the existing Drupal 7 platform, integrating clinical trial data directly into the Company Directory, implementing advanced search capabilities, and maintaining support for multiple domains.
TrazerEdge upgraded the platform to Drupal 8, implemented a customized responsive theme, and enhanced the site with several new capabilities. A custom integration imports XML data from ClinicalTrials.gov, automatically creates structured Drupal content, and associates each expanded access program with the appropriate company in the directory. The solution also aggregates FDA RSS feeds and includes custom Company Directory and Expanded Access listings powered by Apache Solr, allowing users to search by company, medical condition, or drug name instead of relying solely on company browsing.
The project was delivered through a structured process that included a technical audit of the existing Drupal environment, requirements definition, custom development, content migration, quality assurance, deployment support, documentation, training, and ongoing maintenance.
The result is a modern, centralized resource that significantly improves the usability of the Expanded Access Navigator. Patients and physicians can now discover expanded access programs without leaving the website, search across clinical trial information using intuitive free-text queries, and access detailed program information in a single location. The Drupal platform provides the Foundation with a scalable solution that streamlines access to critical healthcare information while supporting future enhancements.
Why Drupal was chosen
Drupal was selected because it provided the flexibility to integrate complex external data sources while supporting a scalable, content-rich platform for multiple audiences. Its extensible architecture enabled custom data imports, structured content modeling, advanced search capabilities, and multisite management, all within a single content management system.
Drupal also provided the ability to build custom workflows and integrate with Apache Solr, allowing the Foundation to transform external clinical trial data into searchable, user-friendly content that could be easily maintained alongside other website resources.
Technical Specifications
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