Clinical Trial Recruitment Practices: The Evolution Of Ethical Considerations

By Dr. Lindsay McNair, MD, MPH, MSB, Chief Medical Officer, WCG and David A. Borasky, MPH, CIP, Vice President, IRB Compliance

In addition to the advances in recruitment advertising through social media and other technologies, there are a number of practices that used to be considered acceptable, and even standard, which are no longer considered acceptable. In many cases, this is related to an increasing awareness and effort to avoid potential conflicts of interest for investigators, study teams, and referring physicians. At the same time, other practices, such as study sponsors providing direct staffing support for busy clinical sites, have become more popular.