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Diane Kramer first noticed tingling and numbness in various parts of her body in 2000, but it wasn’t until 2010, when she began suffering from cluster headaches and lost all feeling on the left side of her body, that she went to speak with her primary care doctor. Diane, then a nurse, was immediately sent for an MRI which confirmed her diagnosis: Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis (RRMS).

Every clinical trial planning process hits bumps in the road now and then, but a few common clinical trial recruitment challenges consistently slow the research process and keep new treatments out of patient hands. The solutions to the most common challenges aren’t necessarily simple, but they do start from the most important place – the patient perspective. 

Ask any two trial sponsors how they feel about digital patient recruitment, and you’re likely to get two very different responses. Some have a positive experience and are able to reach their trial’s goals faster than they have with traditional methods. But others will warn you against a digital approach, citing unresponsive patients and wasted budget. It’s true that digital patient recruitment, ...

This year, Antidote’s New York office is celebrating its fifth anniversary. As we reflect on how we’ve grown over the last half-decade, we wanted to share five lessons we’ve learned about clinical trials patient engagement along the way.

At Antidote, we’re finding new and better ways to connect patients to clinical trials every day. We’re proud of the innovative methods we use to drive high quality referrals for our client’s trials. In fact, we’re always innovating — even with pricing models. Take our calibration model, for example. Calibration involves an upfront flat fee paid by the sponsor to measure the per-patient cost for ...

The most successful patient recruitment strategies are executed by recruitment companies that are always a few steps ahead. They reach patients just as they’re considering taking part in research. They verify information before sending patients to research sites. They answer questions before patients have the chance to ask them.

Later this month, our team will be making the trip to Orlando to attend this year’s SCOPE Summit. We’re looking forward to connecting with some of the best minds in clinical operations to share best practices that continue to drive innovation in the space. 

Clinical trial matching software is one of the newer developments in the clinical research space. This technology matches patients with clinical trials they may qualify for in a process that’s simple both for patients and sponsors. Typically, sponsors work directly with clinical trial matching software companies to find solutions for their specific clinical trial portfolios. 

Patient recruitment materials developed by clinical trial recruitment companies have to achieve more than simply passing an IRB’s careful inspection. While guideline adherence is critical, it’s just as important that materials capture patient interest, answer key questions, and guide would-be participants to the next step toward your trial. 

In order for medications to work effectively for all who need them, clinical trials need to include a diverse cross-section of the population. And yet, though nearly 40% of the population in the United States are racial and ethnic minorities, estimated rates of research participation for these groups range from 2% to 16%.