Full-service Clinical Trial Recruitment Agency, CTM, Shares Three Ways Pharmaceutical Companies Can Improve Patient Recruitment and Retention for Clinical Trials
JERICHO, N.Y., Jan. 11, 2018 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- Clinical trial patient recruitment and retention agency, CTM, shares three strategies pharmaceutical companies can use to improve patient recruitment.
Patient recruitment for clinical trials can be very challenging and costly. Problems in the recruitment process often lead to timeline delays and ultimately to additional costs and lost revenue opportunities, if a drug gets approved. Sometimes difficulty in recruiting patients can lead to a complete abandonment of development for a given drug.
Recent research illustrates that only 6% of clinical trials are completed on time. They also report that 80% of trials experience significant recruitment delays, and over two-thirds of trials fail to meet enrollment goals. This last statistic is particularly problematic given the fact that clinical trials rely on enrolling a certain number of patients in order to draw conclusions about a drug's efficacy. A drug candidate will not receive FDA approval without enough data.
With billions of dollars potentially at stake, pharmaceutical companies must take steps to protect their investments. One important step towards that end is reaching out to a patient recruitment agency to execute a sensible and timely recruitment and retention process. Full-service patient recruitment and retention agency, CTM, shares three ways pharmaceutical companies can improve patient recruitment for clinical trials:
Use cohesive and clear messaging throughout the entire recruitment process. Outside of a physician's recommendation, patients need to be exposed to marketing materials or clinical trial advertising before they are ready to be screened for study participation. Therefore, it is essential to partner with an agency that takes a comprehensive approach. A full-service patient recruitment agency can create online and offline marketing materials with consistent messages and colors. This means the flyer or brochure the patient sees in his or her doctor's office looks and sounds like the TV or digital ad they saw or the radio ad they heard. Clear and consistent messaging increases confidence and encourages patients to participate in research. Marketing materials need to be well-branded and easy to understand.
Target patients strategically. The cost of patient recruitment can be expensive and enrolling patients into a study can be difficult. A targeted recruitment strategy often saves time and money. CTM uses a variety of approaches to create a customized and effective recruitment plan. This helps Pharmaceutical companies achieve their enrollment goals.
Consider a nurse-staffed call center, emails, and text messaging to bolster recruitment and retention. A patient interaction with a call center nurse is a great way to accelerate recruitment, by instilling patient confidence. However, this is just the top of the study funnel. In addition, patients need to be followed throughout their post-recruitment journeys to ensure study participation and compliance. Pharmaceutical companies oftentimes see the value in using call center nurses and/or texted reminders and emails to keep in touch with patients. When patients receive proper follow up communications that remind them of upcoming appointments, or patients are asked to fill out study information, etc., they are more likely to continue their study participation. This leads to useable patient data for FDA presentation.
About CTM:
CTM is a global clinical trial patient recruitment and retention agency. They have been a top vendor to sponsors, CROs, sites, and other patient recruitment providers since 1995. Clients rely on CTM to determine the most cost-effective ways to recruit and retain patients for clinical studies. They seek out CTM's team of dedicated personnel and unique and effective technology solutions that help accelerate the patient recruitment and retention process.
Media Contact: Lisa Giosi, fishbat Media, 855-347-4228, lisa@fishbat.com
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SOURCE CTM
