Let's talk medical research

Clinical trial patient recruitment companies work with study project teams to identify opportunities and challenges for recruiting and retaining patients, then implement a strategy to find patients for particular trials.

Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are an important way to include the patient voice in clinical trials. More than a quarter of clinical trials now use patient-reported outcomes, and with an increased focus on PROs from the FDA, that number is expected to grow in the coming years.

Yesterday was Clinical Trials Day. As part of an early celebration, we hosted a Twitter chat last Friday about the role of storytelling in amplifying patient voices in research. Thanks to all the organizations and individuals who joined! We’re sharing some highlights below.

You may have noticed that for the past several weeks, we’ve been sharing quite a few patient, researcher, and partner stories here at Antidote. That’s because we believe that accelerating medical research is more than clinical trial matching; patients also need to be educated on the importance of research and inspired to take part. And who better to do that than other patients?

In the end, it was vanity that brought Shanelle Gabriel to the doctor who diagnosed her lupus. At least that’s how she tells it.

I was sitting in the balcony seats in the Opera House at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts when I first heard Ed Gavagan tell his story. If you’ve watched the Kennedy Center Honors on TV, these seats are the ones reserved for cultural icons — musical legends, film and stage royalty. Extraordinary people. It was quite a humbling spot for an ordinary person like me, but since I was working the show, and had a few minutes to rest, I snuck up to the VIP seats to watch one of the speaker sessions. On a stage where some of the world’s best have played, sung, and acted, a man named Ed Gavagan took the stage.

It all started with a phone call. Sandy, in tears, called Ira, her husband of over 30 years. She told him that she couldn’t find the Pilates studio where she practiced for years. It was a trip she had taken from their apartment in New York City countless times. The following week, they made an appointment with a neurologist. Soon after, Sandy would be given a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment. And several years later, a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease.

May is Lupus Awareness Month. In the United States, 1.5 million people, the majority of them young women, live with a form of lupus. Symptoms of the autoimmune disease vary, but can include pain, extreme fatigue, and severe rashes. Lupus can affect every organ of the body, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, or brain.

With a long line of disappointments in failed clinical trials, the last few years have not been good ones for drug development in Alzheimer’s disease. TURNING POINT is a documentary, produced in conjunction with BrightFocus Foundation, that follows the journey of researchers and patients working together on a trial for a new Alzheimer’s drug. The drug solanezumab, investigated by Eli Lilly & Co., looked promising in Phase 1 and Phase 2 trials, but in a crushing blow, failed to meet its primary endpoint in Phase 3. We sat down with the film’s director, James Keach, to discuss how all medical research is a story without an ending — but one which drives hope and provides the opportunity for all involved to leave a legacy.

In the clinical trial patient recruitment process, sponsors, sites, or recruitment companies look for ways to connect with patients who may be eligible for their trial. It's a multi-step process that begins with thorough research around the patient population and the creation of a tailored outreach plan.