CORRONA: History & Lessons Learned

It was becoming apparent in our 14th year that CORRONA would never be able to roll the big rock to the top of the hill without some additional infusion of capital. Things were never there and done in this rapidly changing therapeutic and practice environment. Many private sites now had considerable additional income associated with office infusions of biologic agents. CORRONA needed to sustain our model of attractive financial benefits in these changing circumstances.

We were approached by private equity (PE) companies that expressed some interest in investing in our model. They could supply much-needed capital while keeping experienced management in place. After much personal turmoil and angst, I agreed to a sale of CORRONA to PE. My metaphorical patient needed a transfusion, and I couldn’t pretend that things would be just fine without one. I became the chief medical officer of the new CORRONA, and Jeff Greenberg became the chief science officer. 

Founding the Corrona Research Foundation

At the time of the transition to PE in mid-2014 I founded the Corrona Research Foundation, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. The foundation collaborates with talented academics from around the U.S. and Canada to develop and produce meaningful contributions to the medical literature by accessing the clinical data from CORRONA (now CorEvitas). The foundation functions without any profit requirement. I retired from seeing patients in July 2019 and remain engaged with the varied research efforts of the Corrona Research Foundation collaborating with talented academics throughout the country. 

Joel M. Kremer, MD, MACR, has engaged in clinical research for the past four decades. He currently leads a not-for-profit research organization, the Corrona Research Foundation.