01.07.21 -- Addressing The Challenges Of Patient Recruitment In Clinical Trials

What is comfort anyway? Being home. Your own bed. Your mom’s homemade anything. In rare disease studies, those things are suspended. Get through the trial and then you can seek comfort. But does it have to be this way?

In Q2, 2020, ISR asked 125 respondents involved in patient recruitment and retention activities for rare disease studies about challenges they face while recruiting patients. The most challenging issue reported by respondents in finding patients for their recent rare disease studies was Multiple sites with access to only a few patients (42%).

It is not surprising that the task of CRO selection is often stress-inducing. One element we explore in depth is the influence of preferred provider agreements or the lack thereof. We ask clinical development outsourcers about the attributes they focus on under three selection environments.