Incorporating The Patient Voice To Improve Ulcerative Colitis Recruitment

The exact cause of ulcerative colitis (UC) is still unknown, but approximately 700,000 people in the United States suffer from this chronic, life-long disease that causes inflammation in the large intestine. A wide range of treatment options are available, but drug development sponsors are seeking additional ways to control inflammation, achieve remission and address relapses.

While there is an urgent need to continue to study this disease and develop effective treatments, nearly 90% of UC patients have never enrolled in a clinical trial. This creates a shortage of qualified patients for researchers to study, a problem exacerbated by a shortage of qualified and available investigators due to so many competing studies.

Dr. Joan Meyer, Covance Executive Director of Strategy & Planning for Inflammation, Infectious Diseases and General Medicine, recently discussed her team’s efforts to better understand patients’ opinions about inflammatory bowel disease trials and develop patient-centered clinical strategies to improve study recruitment.