Data Key In Addressing Patient Recruitment Challenges

Recruitment bottlenecks threatened the progress of a Phase II trial for patients with extensive-stage and previously treated small cell lung cancer. Traditional outreach strategies failed to deliver qualified participants, burdening overstretched trial sites and risking costly delays. To overcome these challenges, the sponsor deployed Citeline PatientMatch, a data-driven recruitment solution designed to surface protocol-matched patients through advanced real-world data (RWD) analytics.

By integrating electronic medical records (EMR), lab data, and open claims, PatientMatch enabled precise patient targeting through a custom-built algorithm. This algorithm continuously monitored data sources for relevant medical activity, triggering alerts to study coordinators when eligible, de-identified patients were identified, whether under the direct care of a principal investigator (PI), a network physician, or located within a configurable radius of a study site.

Within one week of deployment, sites began receiving high-quality referrals, directly enhancing prescreening accuracy and reducing screen-fail rates. The strategic use of longitudinal RWD not only minimized site burden but also accelerated patient randomization, helping the sponsor reach enrollment milestones faster. PatientMatch’s tailored alerts and algorithmic precision demonstrated a scalable, cost-effective approach to solving complex recruitment challenges in time-sensitive oncology trials.