Patient recruitment is arguably one of the most important aspects of a clinical trial. Without enough participants, trials will inevitably fail, meaning potentially effective therapies will not be brought to market. But recruitment is also one of the biggest challenges for trials. More than four in five studies fail to meet their recruitment deadlines, which can result in costly delays for sponsors and puts sites under increasing pressure.
This issue has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic; with many trials initially put on hold and now restarting, sponsors want to make up for lost time by accelerating patient recruitment and retention. However, clinical trial staff are struggling to clear this enrollment backlog.
This webinar will explore some of the key challenges to patient recruitment particularly since COVID-19, and highlight how a 'boots on the ground' approach via Clinical Enrollment Managers (CEMs) can help supercharge patient recruitment and retention strategy by:
- Understanding the local environment and culture in each country where sites are based
- Working with sites and developing strategies to help them overcome recruitment barriers
- Sustained community engagement within key patient populations, including those who are traditionally underrepresented in trials
