As a research study is in its early planning phase, sponsors and CROs dedicate a significant amount to identifying and selecting the research sites who have the ideal database of eligible patients for their study. A few months into enrollment, however, the study is failing to meet recruitment goals, which leads to delays and the potential for early trial termination. If going into the study everyone strongly believes the study will be successful, why is it that there is still a struggle to identify and recruit patients who should already be in a site's database?
When asked which barriers to recruitment sites found most significant, 67% of survey respondents said having insufficient staff time to dedicate to recruitment leads to overall difficulty in enrolling patients. The study staff is often handling multiple studies at the same time, which leaves them with limited time to dedicate to each one.
To overcome this barrier, CSSi created a team of Local Enrollment Specialists (LES) who use their experience as previous study coordinators to work as an extension of a site's study team. By dedicating an LES to each site enrolling for a sponsor or CRO's study, we alleviate some of the patient recruitment burden many site staff members face and increase overall site performance. In fact, sites supported by our LES team have seen a 3-5x increase in screening rates.
Many recruitment companies have a team of specialists who focus on site recruitment, but CSSi differentiates itself by having our LES' build strong and cooperative relationships as they work as direct support to the site staff.
Operating at a global level, the LES team has experience in 40+ countries. Each Local Enrollment Specialist we assign to a site is local to the site's geographic location, allowing them to serve as an expert of the culture, language and regulatory environments of those countries or regions.
Once assigned to the site, an LES will work with their study coordinator to select only the recruitment activities that will truly answer the site's current needs and challenges they are facing with the study. A customized enrollment plan is outlined for the site, including services like:
• on-site study awareness
• lunch and learns
• medical outreach
• community awareness
• database and chart reviews
• referral pre-screening
• recruitment analysis
As recruitment efforts continue, the site receives transparent results from our recruitment efforts. Using our proprietary site portal will also give each site access to every referral generated through those efforts. The LES will follow CSSi's process to ensure each referral is followed up with in a timely manner, bringing direct benefit to both the site and the study.
Interested in learning more about how our LES team leads each study to enrollment success?
Gene and cellular therapy are novel treatment methods that are avidly being studied in a realm of different indications including oncology, neurology, rheumatology, pediatrics, and more. As of 2023, there are over 1,500 gene/cellular therapy trials actively enrolling with a majority being in Phase 1 and Phase 2 stages.
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LGBTQIA+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersexual, Asexual/Agender, + Additional Sexualities and Identities) make up a significant portion of the population: around 8% of the total United States population and an estimated 10% of the global population.1,2 Trends show an increased likelihood of identifying as LGBTQA+ in younger generations such as millennials and Gen Z.
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Now that we have a flood of new adults entering the scene, they are eligible to participate in many clinical trials. These new adults aren’t their Millennial elders and are far removed from Gen X and the Baby Boomer generations, so new recruitment tactics and strategies need to be implemented to gain their interest.
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During the COVID-19 pandemic, many clinical trials were halted or stopped altogether due to the inability to recruit and screen patients. Much of this was due to a centralized study set up, where patients were required to appear in person for screening and secondary study visit activities. As the pandemic progressed...
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Marketing and advertising are an art form. And as is true of all art, it evolves and adapts to the world around it (And enter the famous question: Does art imitate life or does life imitate art?). Reaching patients for clinical trials is quite a task. Creating awareness, providing education, and garnering true interest is a multi-pronged approach that requires an in-depth understanding of the needs and communication...
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The health and well-being of all persons regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, or gender is integral to public health. As a nation, the United States is slowly improving and becoming self-aware of the maladaptive behavior towards its minority citizens both past and present.
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Clinical trial recruitment has been understandingly difficult for the past fifteen months. Isolation and quarantine have kept patients (not to mention site and trial staff) from being able to undergo appropriate screening and enrollment measures. Because of this immense issue, many trials have been paused (or worse, stopped all together).
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We have all heard these statistics before: 85% of all clinical trials fail to recruit enough patients and 80% are delayed due to patient recruitment problems.1 This makes selecting the right patient recruitment partner such an important part of setting your study up for success.
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Clients often ask if we are able to provide recruitment reporting and metrics. What’s our answer? Yes, we’ve been doing it for years!
When you hire an agency to support your patient recruitment and retention efforts, you deserve to know what they are doing and if it is working.
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Patient recruitment is often a time-consuming and high-cost step in completing your clinical trials. Your marketing team will have to develop the correct study message and a strong call-to-action to get people motivated to see if they prequalify. You must strategically target your patient population and generate interest in participation among this audience.
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The COVID-19 virus has significantly changed the way the world operates. It has caused unprecedented interruptions to many industries and businesses around the globe, and clinical trials are no exception. New guidelines have been issued by the FDA regarding clinical trials, which could have a significant impact on study enrollment and patient retention.
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As you begin the patient recruitment process for your study, it can be tempting to put all of your money towards one method. You place all bets on digital advertising because that generated the most referrals during your last study. What happens if digital doesn’t perform for you this time? It’s best to spread your advertising budget out over a number of recruitment methods. This gives you the ability to truly test what is most effective.
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Identifying and implementing ways to increase diversity in clinical trials is a growing topic in the industry. Almost 40 percent of Americans belong to a racial or ethnic minority, but roughly 80-90 percent of participants in clinical trials for new drugs are still disproportionately Caucasian.1
In order to make sure drugs and treatments are safe and reliable to all people, there needs to be a better representation
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You’ll often be faced with more work than there is time each day. Meeting with patients, scheduling appointments, fully informing patients at time of consent, training study staff, conducting study procedures, working with sponsors, advertising for the study and recruiting patients... the list goes on and on.
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We all see others do it, and we probably experience it ourselves it every day.
Watching videos and tv shows on devices other than the TV in the family room, catching up on your favorite sitcom on-demand because you weren't home to watch it at 8pm when it originally aired, or streaming videos on YouTube to pass time. As the years go by, technology and media are changing – and so is how we are using them.
Each year, $1.89 billion is spent on patient recruitment for clinical trials.1 With a 30% average dropout rate across all clinical trials, many pharmaceutical companies are spending a large amount of money to recruit patients who aren't staying enrolled in their trials.
Needed study data for regulatory submission and the overall success of a clinical trial depend largely on study participants fulfilling their roles...
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One of the top places sites look for (and sponsors depend on) when recruiting patients for clinical trials is their database of patients. It has been a go-to method of recruitment for years. In a recent study, however, only 27% of sites report being fully satisfied with their current recruitment methods, including site database searches.1
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Within the world of patient recruitment for clinical trials, delayed timelines and unforeseen budget issues are often the norm. But, what if just a bit of strategic planning up-front decreased the possibility of these barriers?
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As a research study is in its early planning phase, sponsors and CROs dedicate a significant amount to identifying and selecting the research sites who have the ideal database of eligible patients for their study.
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As a sponsor, CRO or site, there are a surplus of patient recruitment companies you can turn to when you need help finding patients for your studies, and that number grows higher every day. Most of these companies offer a niche service, but very few are a full-service, global recruitment agency like ours.
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We've all heard it before: "traditional advertising is dead." But if that were true, why are we still seeing commercials on TV, hearing ads on the radio, and seeing billboards on the highway during our morning commute?
Because it's not true! Traditional advertising is still very much alive and used by some of the largest companies worldwide.
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If you’ve been following along with our past blogs, you have gained insight into:
You're going through the checklist of everything needed to get the awareness efforts for your study up and running:
You have:
There are about 93 million Americans searching online for information related to a health-related topic, with 63% of those individuals looking up a specific disease or medical problem. In fact, looking for health or medical information comes high on the list as one of the most popular activities people do when they are online.
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Let's imagine two different scenarios:
A: You're sitting in a doctor's office, and you see a poster for ACN-053-2414, a clinical trial testing medication for acne in adults.
B: You're sitting in a doctor's office, and you see a poster for the Face It Acne Research Study, a clinical trial testing medication for acne in adults.
