Clinical research – Can data support your identification of low incidence oncology patients?

How to prepare to ride the wave of decentralized clinical trials

By Marianne Fillion, VP North America

Decentralized clinical trials have become the new normal during Covid times, and many advocate for this novel approach to grow into the industry standard. The days of solely focusing on key large centres for patient accrual are over, and this shift in paradigm can only benefit a greater number of cancer patients, everywhere. While Covid and trial continuity risk management were important catalysts to shift our conventional mindset, this behavioral change, regardless of how it happened, will help to bring more patients to clinical trials, or more clinical trials to patients.

Especially in oncology, where targeted therapy trials are becoming the norm, finding qualified patients is proving to be increasingly difficult, if not impossible. More than ever before, matching a patient to a clinical trial relies on luck or serendipity (especially for low incidence/rare mutations).  

Decentralized clinical trials also mean reaching out to a larger clinician base (and exponentially increasing awareness of clinical trials), as they are the best conduit to finding patients and initiating the conversation on clinical trials with potential participants. Research and interviews have shown that patients trust first and foremost their healthcare professionals when it comes to treatment options and treatment decisions (regardless of how many websites one might browse late at night…). These patients that are so needed for clinical trials are out there and known to the healthcare system. They just have to be identified, wherever they are. Decentralized trials create a new opportunity to include all patients, not just those who happen to be treated in a tertiary center by a renowned KOL.  

As the competition for the same patient becomes fiercer then ever (how many NRG1 or KRASG12C patients can really be out there…(!)), it is key to step outside the comfort zone to reach out to non-traditional clinical trial patients (and their treating physicians), as well as to understand the drivers and barriers to clinicians participating in a study. Having a trial for rare mutation patients is great, and the few patients that are being recruited are lucky. But if only 1% of the physician’s population is aware of the trial, that leaves the assumption that 99% of the patients could be left behind.  

How can you improve reach, awareness, and participation to your clinical trials? By understanding your customers and having the right answers for them.  

Quantitative surveys can be an insightful and cost-effective method to understanding a wider customer base and finding solutions to clinical trial recruitment challenges.  

For more information about our expertise in companion diagnostics and oncology strategy market research, please contact Marianne Fillion, VP North America.