What are some of the current critical issues facing the industry in regards to clinical trial patient recruitment?
There’s a disconnect in the protocol design and the patient treatment pathway, behaviors and diversity that remains the most critical issue facing the industry. As protocols continue to grow in complexity there’s a lack of consistency in including patients, healthcare professionals and sites in the development process. Those who do bring the patient into trial design tend to do so as part of a “pilot” program that is not yet operationalized throughout the organization.
Can you tell us about some recent technological innovations that are helping pharmaceutical companies meet their clinical trial participant requirements/goals?
A productive site has a direct impact on patient experience. Improvements in and increased acceptance of eClinical technology and the reduction of redundant tasks in training and contracting is improving site’s ability to conduct complex trials, leaving more opportunity for sites to focus on patients. Increasing adoption of EHR technology and analytics tools has made it easier for sites to identify patients from within their own practice helping to maintain the patient-physician relationship that is still critical for retention.
There are also increasingly sophisticated social media demographic targeting tools, search ad platforms and digital analytics used not only in finding patients at specific points in their treatment pathways, but tailoring messages aimed directly toward them. We have been able to effectively apply this post- market “consumer” expertise to clinical trial recruitment with greater precision in the recent years.
When a pharmaceutical company is choosing a company to assist them with their clinical trial participant recruitment efforts, what questions should they ask? What qualities and expertise should a provider have to ensure that their clinical trial participant goals are met?
There are two critical questions when selecting a company to partner with — do they understand your patient and what is their project management methodology? It is important to really understanding what makes your patient tick beyond the usual clinical perspective and the treatment pathway. Where is the patient is on their individual journey, what is important to them as a person and what are their caregiver’s needs are equally as imperative as addressing the nuances in diverse populations and cultures. Can the company demonstrate this?
What is their project management methodology? Do they use sophisticated tracking tools to manage their services as well as those of other vendors? The success of most clinical trial recruitment plans lie in the ability of the provider to establish KPIs and the ability to look ahead and quickly change course if needed. Things can – and often do -- go differently than projected so choosing a partner that is capable of strategic thinking, has strong project management acumen and centralized tools for measuring impact is essential.
What future clinical trial recruitment innovations do you foresee? How will they help pharma companies test and bring products to market?
We will see uptake and success of virtual trials in the near future. They will reduce the need and cost of investigators while allowing patients to participate in the comfort of their own setting ultimately leading to the most reliable data.
I also see the industry reaching a place where clinical development planning and protocol design will consistently engage patients earlier in the process. Now is the time to begin applying the sophisticated practices and tools developed in the commercial/marketing world into the clinical development process. Patient insights have extreme value in clinical trials, so deploying these commercial strategies is the key to engaging with patients as consumers to drive clinical trial recruitment forward.