Despite the fact that the primary goal of clinical trials is to identify new treatments that can improve health and save lives, the reality is that patient experience is not always prioritized. The industry’s findings reveal a significant disparity between what patients expect from pharmaceutical companies and what they receive.
The survey, entitled Patient Services, gathered responses from 2,000 patients in the United States. We’ve summarized the key findings from this survey below. These insights are intended to help sponsors better understand patient recruitment in clinical trials.
Clinical trial participation figures
This patient survey revealed that 76% of respondents believe that pharmaceutical companies should provide information and services that will help patients manage their health. Patients reported that they expect to receive product information, rewards, adherence support, and financial assistance.
The services must be easily communicated.
Patients highly value and rate any service that helps them learn more about their health and manage it better. In general, however, these services are underserved or underutilized. The fact that these services are frequently not accessed may be because patients do not know about the services or are unable to access them in their current form.
Patients want information about clinical trials.
Statistics from this survey indicate that, in regard to participation in clinical trials, 28% of patients want to receive such information from pharmaceutical companies about research studies. However, only 7% said that they received information on clinical trial access from a pharmaceutical firm. It may indicate a breakdown in communication, but it also shows that patients would be more likely to enroll if they received the correct information.
Participants in clinical trials are very satisfied.
Sixty-three percent of patients who received access to clinical trial experiences were satisfied with the experience. Although clinical trials are among the least-used services offered by pharmaceutical companies, this high satisfaction score indicates the positive benefits and could be used to advertise future studies.
Communication is key to increasing patient recruitment for clinical trials
The research indicates that patients want to be informed and receive information about clinical trials from pharmaceutical companies. But how can companies get in touch with them? This can be done by communicating with patients in a manner that resonates.
Aaron Kowalski, Ph.D., President and CEO of JDRF, said: “JDRF invested in [Antidote’s Match tool] so that our community could easily understand what opportunities are available and how they can participate in clinical trials. These trials are a great way to advance science. “We’re excited about our partnership with Antidote because it spreads the word.”
Antidote knows that patients want to find clinical trials, and we also understand how they can be reached. We have created an extensive partner network that includes health portals and patient advocacy groups. These partners work together to provide clinical trial information to their respective communities. Our search tool, “Match,” aggregates clinical trials directly from ClinicalTrials.gov so that individuals can view their options in a patient-centric, intuitive way. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you reach patients.