One of the biggest challenges of drug and vaccine development continues to be recruiting a representative patient sample for clinical trials. Using electronic health records (EHR) for recruitment has become the industry standard for clinical trial enrollment. However, most studies are still unable to meet their enrollment goals using participants from healthcare organizations.
There are a few different techniques for expanding enrollment that are currently being adopted across the industry. One of the more common options is to use traditional digital advertising. However, this creates additional screening activities which can further delay studies since the targeting is not specific enough and engages a number of ineligible participants.
“Traditional patient recruitment has limited access to patients and takes a long time to accomplish. Digital advertising for clinical trials, to supplement the pool of patients available to investigators, often results in large burdensome screening activities for the sites only to result in a few additional patients to enroll,” said Lollo Eriksson, Chief Strategy Officer at Trialbee.
Eriksson elaborated on the deficits created by digital advertising as well as new methodologies to improve enrollment in a recent peer-reviewed article in Applied Clinical Trials, Using Real-World Data in Patient Recruitment.
In the article, Eriksson, along with AstraZeneca’s Mats Sundgren, MSc, PhD and Carlanderska Hospital’s Kaj Stenlof, MD, PhD recommend layering traditional EHR methodology with real-world data in order to enhance the targeting of study participants. “This combination of FEHR technology and RWD-driven advertising offers synergies to boost the capability of finding and recruiting patients.”
The primary benefit of using RWD-driven outreach is that it is more targeted than traditional digital advertising. This means that patients who are referred through these methods are more likely to qualify for the study.
Once profiles are created using EHRs and RWD, a “look-alike” audience can also be created. This expands the audience further while still keeping some control over the target. Using these methods, clinical trials are able to recruit enough participants for studies much more quickly than ever before.
This article showcases the thought leadership that not only influences the industry but also Trialbee’s own development. For example, earlier this year, Trialbee unveiled HIVE. HIVE is a smart data science application applied on real-world data (RWD) to enhance targeting and precision in performance-driven patient recruitment for global clinical trials.
Access to a large number of potential patients combined with smart-matching techniques allow researchers to recruit and secure study populations more quickly and allow for a more strategic approach to clinical study management.
For more information about how Trialbee utilizes real-world data in clinical trial recruitment, read about our HIVE platform.
