E-Newsletter - October 2018

 

When Designing a Clinical trial, Think Like a Marketing Manager

Alliance researchers can improve clinical trial success by engaging with the patient community directly, just as leading brands engage with consumers.

 

 

 

By Eva A. May, MBA
Alliance Patient Advocate, Prevention and the Community Oncology Committees

Did you know that only 3 to 5 percent of patients with cancer ever participate in clinical research?¹ And rates are even lower for minority populations.² It’s actually not surprising that accrual rates are so dismal. Researchers typically make no attempt to reach out to potential participants. They rely on oncologists or site recruiters to find eligible patients, providing trial details on a consent form or via clinicaltrials.gov, both of which are written to comply with protocol guidelines, but are not generally intelligible to typical patients.   

Dropout rates can also be high³ as cumbersome, painful and time-consuming protocols frequently make it very difficult for participants to adhere to protocol successfully, and with little incentive to complete a trial.

Even if a trial has very meaningful endpoints, and the hypothesis is correct, the broad patient community is probably unaware that the trial exists, and that participation in the trial could help improve treatment and outcomes. And this is especially true in hard-to-reach and minority patient communities, which are typically significantly underrepresented or not even a part of clinical trials, even when a disease or issue affects a greater portion of these communities.

Fortunately, there is a proven method that can be effectively adapted to improve participant accrual and adherence to clinical trials: customer-centered marketing. It’s an essential component of business strategies used to launch and sustain many successful brands and services. Recruiting patients for clinical trials can be compared to, in a general sense, motivating consumers to apply for a credit card, or making donations to a charity, or purchasing a certain brand of toothpaste. To be successful in the consumer world, an organization needs to make the right group of potential customers aware of a product or service that might appeal to them, offer ways for them to easily learn more about the benefits and potential drawbacks, answer their questions, generate interest in a purchase, and direct them to the purchase location or website – making it easy for them to get qualified (if needed) and make the purchase (becoming customers). Smart companies also seek out ways to show their customers appreciation in a variety of ways, striving for long-term loyalty and even advocacy. This is called customer engagement – and being successful in this arena is critical for sustained business success.

When designing a clinical trial, researchers can apply the principles of customer engagement to create successful patient engagement programs. To create awareness of a trial and gain potential participant interest, researchers can reach out directly to the patient community, explaining the overarching and relevant goals of the research, and clearly outlining who is eligible, who is NOT eligible, and why it’s important to participate. They can offer lay-language materials that make it easy for potential participants to learn more, and provide easy ways to check eligibility, and enroll. They can encourage adherence and show appreciation for adherence, making participants feel like partners in successful trial implementation.

A mutually beneficial patient community <--> researcher relationship has a compelling foundation for success – both groups typically have a passion for achieving the same endpoints. Ideally, researchers can build long-term relationships with key patient communities, making them feel like they are stakeholders in the success of the research, and partners in the attainment of the goals. Researchers who create strong patient engagement programs should also see a direct payout – improved accrual and adherence rates, and a broader and/or more representative participant population – key components of a successful clinical trial.
 

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TIPS FOR SUCCESS AND ALLIANCE RESOURCES
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Build a qualified patient engagement team: Include patient advocate(s) and patient-centered design professionals. Give them specific roles and responsibilities, and compensate them for their services. [The Patient Advocate Committee is a great place to start your engagement team search. But don’t just assume that a patient advocate is also a patient engagement program designer. Make sure that you include engagement program design experts on your team, and you will have a more engaging program, especially when developing communication materials.]

 

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[Eva A. May. MBA, is a multicultural marketing professional who is passionate about harnessing patient power to improve the success of clinical trials through improved design, recruitment and adherence. She is also a member of the Patient Advocate, Prevention and the Community Oncology committees of the Alliance.]

References 

 

For other articles in this issue of the Alliance E-News newsletter, see below.

• Spotlight on Fall Group Meeting
  New Ideas, Promising Prospects Expected When Meeting Convenes November 1-3
• Message From the Group Statistician
  Alliance Statistics and Data Center: On the Cutting Edge of Statistical, Methodoligcal Research
• Guest Columnists
  Eva A. May, MBA - When Designing a Clinical Trial, Think Like a Markerting Manager
  Thomas C. Shea, MD - How We've Thrived in a "New" Marriage
• Announcements
  Recently Activated Trials
  Six Investigators Win Funding Awards from Cancer Control and Cancer Care Delivery Research Programs
• In Memoriam
  David Sugarbaker, MD - Renowned Thoracic Surgeon
• #Did You Know
  About Deadlines for Alliance Abstracts
  About Alliance Foundation Trials