How to Recruit Patients Successfully

Online, October 2, 2013 (Newswire.com) - Patient recruitment and retention, a key determinant of the success of a clinical trial, has become a major challenge for pharmaceutical companies as well as for the clinical research organizations conducting these trials. The reason is the increased complexity of clinical trial design, stringent eligibility criteria, the lengthy nature of these trials, and the trend toward a more targeted patient population.

The real question is how can pharmaceutical companies and clinical research organizations deal with this challenge? Patient recruitment can be enhanced by providing additional support, training, and education to the investigators by helping them to comply with global requirements and provide high-quality data for the clinical trial analysis. But even when the pharmaceutical facilities will follow these recommendations, the result does not have to be positive at the end. There is no value in recruiting the right people if they drop out before the study is completed. So shouldn't we rather ask straight away how to make people stay in a clinical trial until the end?

To improve the rate of patients completing all clinical trial phases, it is crucial to create patient retention strategies that keep patients informed and engaged, ensuring they stay the course until trial completion. My question is what would be the most successful strategy which would help pharmaceutical industry the most? It might be social media, which is able to captivate and create caution more than any other digital media. But on the other hand, isn't this too sensitive a topic to debate via social media?

Would you like to hear the answer to any of these questions? Join the 2nd Annual Patient Recruitment and Retention America Conference organized by Allan Lloyds and learn about the issues and challenges related to development in the pharmaceutical industry as well as the newest trends and solutions that can decrease costs, shorten development timelines, and increase the pace at which new medicine becomes available to patients.

Allan Lloyds is the world's leading provider of unrivalled high quality business information, that helps organizations of all sizes optimize their people and processes, leading to outstanding professional development and superior business results. Our business intelligence is impeccable, with a growing client base made up of international organizations and fortune 500 companies, all leaders within key market sectors.