Why We Need Clinical Trial Awareness in the Exam Room

Syneos Health experts examine how closer collaboration with healthcare providers can make clinical study involvement a normal part of our healthcare discussions.

The cost of clinical trials is on the rise, and slow patient recruitment, which causes trial delays, is mostly to blame. In fact, 80% of clinical trials are delayed due to slow recruitment. Moreover, the average cost of trial delays, in general, can run between $600,000 to $8M a day.  

What is keeping patients away from clinical trials?  

According to the landmark 2017 Perceptions & Insights Study, 90% of patients stated they simply had never been asked to participate in a clinical trial.

The study also found that 88% of patients believed it would be valuable to learn about critical trial options from their health care providers (HCPs) during regular office visits. Yet, as few as 0.2%of patients seen annually are being referred to clinical trials by their doctor. 

Misconceptions About HCPs and Clinical Trials

One reason clinical trials have not targeted doctors more is the long-held belief that HCPs are reluctant to refer patients to studies for fear of losing those patients to trial specialists. Shifting that perspective, a 2019 study conducted by BBK Worldwide concluded that: 

• Most HCPs (69%) had referred patients to clinical trials, despite a belief on the part of sponsors that HCPs were reluctant to do so. 
• Most HCPs (68%) stated they do not refer patients to trials more often because they lacked the information.

A similar independent study by Kinetic, in which 151 HCPs were asked about clinical trial referrals, showed 93% of doctors across multiple specialties would refer their patients to clinical studies, and 87% of doctors would refer their patients to trials if they thought a trial mightbenefit their patients.

The good news? HCPs are ready and willing to refer patients to trials. We just need to do a better job of giving them the right tools to do so.

Existing Recruitment Solutions 

Unfortunately, many existing recruitment solutions, like the ones discussed below, lack the reach and urgency needed to bridge the gap. For example:

Often, study sites identify HCPs within a small radius of the trial site, usually hospital physicians or a handful of area practices peripherally linked to the study. Word of mouth, face-to-face visits, and handouts and brochures make up the marketing efforts. This approach leaves many local HCPs and their staff out of the loop and is a laissez-faire approach to the billion-dollar problem.

Another standard practice is to pinpoint patients through social channels. If interested, patients can contact the site themselves or seek advice from their doctor about the trial. If the doctor has no knowledge of the trial, the likelihood of a referral is slim. While this approach does build patient awareness, it fails at the doctor-patient level and can cause a strain on the relationship when patients might not have all the trial information. 

Finally, a doctor can look for trial information on their own, on websites like Clinicaltrials.gov or the National Cancer Institute. But scrolling through pages of data and trial information takes time most HCPs simply don’t have. 

Conveying the Right Message

We know the stigma around clinical trials is a barrier to clinical recruitment as well. Both doctor and patient need to be convinced of its benefits. That means it is on trial sponsors to present the possible benefits of the study in an easy-to-understand way. This can be a challenging task as clinical trials can be complex, narrow, and without guarantee. What’s needed is a way to reach more targeted HCPs and their patients with clear messages.

Reaching the Right HCPs with Precision Data

The first step is reaching the right HCPs, which can be done by creating precise audience lists using data analytics available through HCP NPI numbers. At Kinetic, our data scientists use advanced data and segmentation to pinpoint HCPs serving the clinical trial location and practicing in the therapeutic area being tested. We can also tell which of those doctors are more likely to refer out than others.

Here are just some recruitment results when this kind of digital engagement was employed through Kinetic versus a control group: 

• 24% more randomized patients were recruited than with the control group in a women’s health trial.
• 22% more patients were screened for a kidney disease trial. 
• 7.6% more patients were enrolled for a vaccine trial.
• Double the patients were enrolled for a COVID-19 treatment trial. 
  

Enabling Diversity in Clinical Trial Pools

Similarly, this kind of recruitment can help sponsors develop a diverse patient pool. Because typical recruitment practices tend to fish from the same limited stream, the diversity of the patient pool does not match the diversity of patients who will take the treatment in the real world. Specifically targeting HCPs who are seeing a diversity of relevant patients can be effective in driving more diverse enrollment.

These numbers are encouraging. But there is even more sponsors can do to bring more informed conversations about clinical trials into the exam room and accelerate recruitment against sponsor goals.

How Face-To-Face and Digital Engagement Can Accelerate Recruitment Against Sponsor Goals

Even with a high-impact list, clinical sponsors know doctors can be difficult to reach. Their time is limited, so efficiency, timeliness and relevant trial information is key to helping build their awareness.  

One way Syneos Health is meeting those needs is through a combination of face-to-face meetings and strategically timed digital interactions deployed to where individual HCPs are online.

For example, a visit from a Medical Science Liaison (MS) or Clinical Trial Liaison (CTL) is a powerful way to connect with HCPs about their clinical trials. But how do you keep the HCP up to date on the latest trial news and education? Follow up digitally by releasing relevant trial education to the individual HCPs online at times when they are available to learn more. 

Using various channels to reach HCP’s across phases of the trial lifecycle can be helpful for sponsors hoping to build lasting relationships with HCPs, increase HCP confidence and solidify a viable contact for trial sponsors.

The Long-Term Goal

We understand why HCPs should be in the front lines of clinical study recruitment in terms of reducing costs and getting life-saving therapies to market faster. But the bigger picture might be even sunnier: imagine a culture in which clinical studies are one of the regular go-to treatment options doctors discuss with their patients, making clinical study involvement a normal part of our healthcare discussions.

Do you want to discuss our clinical trial awareness programs? The experts on our Kinetic team are ready to offer their support.

Contributor
Frank Moricca
Senior Vice President, Client Experience
Syneos Health