What are the Key Pain Points in Managing Clinical Trials?

Recruitment firms can give sponsors insight into how their sites are performing and can also act as a backbone for sponsors who are balancing vendors. For instance, antidote offers engagement tracking and optimization throughout the trial's lifecycle.

Fremont, CA: Getting a new clinical trial up and running is no easy task, and keeping it running smoothly necessitates a well-planned project management strategy. Preparing for the worst also entails planning for the best: anticipating the challenges that come with carrying out a trial is critical to its success.

What are the key challenges in clinical trial management?

Site Management

It is great to have a diverse set of sites to ensure that your trial is accessible to a wide range of patients. However, different types of sites (academic medical centers, private labs, hospitals, and so on) may use different data tracking systems. The average site collects and captures clinical study data using at least 12 different electronic systems, making it difficult for sponsors to track this data in real-time. Recruitment firms can give sponsors insight into how their sites are performing and can also act as a backbone for sponsors who are balancing vendors. 

For instance, antidote offers engagement tracking and optimization throughout the trial's lifecycle.

Slow Recruitment                  

Because of recruitment issues, 80 percent of clinical trials are delayed or closed. Before beginning recruitment, review your sites' patient databases and consider a few factors that can cause common recruitment challenges.

To begin with, never assume that all sites will accept patients. According to a recent study, 11 percent of sites in a given trial fail to enroll a single patient, and 37 percent under-enroll. Working with sites that have a high prescribing rate for an existing version of the investigational treatment, for example, can be difficult. Patients who are satisfied with their current medications may be less interested in participating in a clinical trial.

There is a chance that one's trial, like many others, will be delayed, so plan ahead. If one does not have enough patients in one's sites' databases or are not confident in one's sites' ability to recruit, seek the assistance of a patient recruitment company.