Finding and Keeping Top Investigators: Best Practices in Investigator Recruitment and Retention

Industries Profiled:
Pharmaceutical; Research; Manufacturing; Biotech; Consumer Products; Diagnostic; Medical Device; Professional Services; Health Care


Companies Profiled:
AAI Corporation; Sanofi-aventis; America's Doctor; AstraZeneca; Bayer; BBK Healthcare; Bristol-Myers Squibb; Central Texas Clinical Research; Covance; East Bay Clinical Trial Center; Eli Lilly; Genesis Clinical Research Corporation; GlaxoSmithKline; Health Decisions; Nashville Clinical Research; Pfizer; PPD; Richard H. Weisler & Associates; Roche; Spartanburg Pharmaceutical; Virginia Commonwealth University; Wake Forest University

Study Snapshot

With heightened competition among pharmaceutical companies for clinical investigators and patients, higher regulatory demands for larger and more complex clinical trials and shrinking product lifecycles, pharmaceutical companies are under tremendous pressure to complete clinical trials on time and on budget. Recent research suggests that a pharmaceutical product with $1 billion in peak annual sales can lose as much as $2.5 million for every day that sub-optimal clinical trials delay product launch. In saving time during clinical trials, effective clinical communications can not only add billions of dollars to a company’s top-line growth, it can also have a critical impact on the bottom-line during development.

Competition within the pharmaceutical industry continues to intensify, and competing for clinical investigators and patients is no exception. While pharmaceutical companies invest heavily in marketing approved drugs, they often do not employ that same market research and marketing expertise when it comes to targeting, positioning and communicating the value of clinical trials to study sites and patients. The research data underscores the high stakes and urgent need for pharmaceutical companies to improve the clinical trial process. Effective communications can result in better-selected study sites and patients who will remain with a study until it is completed -- saving time and money in clinical trials. 

This Best Practices Benchmarking^® Report examines the best practices of a highly-regarded group of pharmaceutical companies and contract organizations, as well as insights from several study site coordinators. Best Practices, LLC researchers analyzed several critical issues, including using marketing techniques to profile patients and investigators for better site selection, developing effective positioning and training messages to recruit and prepare study sites, and supporting study sites in recruiting and retaining patients. 

By studying other organization's best practices in communicating the value of clinical studies, your company can understand the techniques, methods and channels that lead to excellence in the area of clinical communications. 

Key Findings

Clinical communications plays a significant role in the costs and timelines involved in developing a pharmaceutical product during a clinical trial. As such, clinical operations and development leaders seek to understand the key drivers affecting their ability to deliver targeted, effective communications through appropriate channels -- traditionally a marketing competence. Throughout research with the benchmark class, Best Practices, LLC analysts identified three critical success factors used by industry-leading pharmaceutical companies for communicating the value of studies to investigators and patients: 

• Use market research techniques to target study sites and patients suitable for the study.  This report shares best practice findings that detail strategies for leveraging marketing expertise across therapeutic areas, selecting contract organizations, analyzing target population trends, and gathering input from key opinion leaders on the study protocol. The report reviews how to select an appropriate mix of study sites and how to use both internal and external sources to identify and qualify sites that fit a study site requirement profile. 
• Apply an understanding of investigator needs to generate study interest and build study site capability.  This report also includes best practices in establishing appropriate amounts of resources to invest in clinical investigators, creating positioning statements, and involving investigators in the study design. To best reach investigators, create a site communications team, use multiple communication channels, highlight scientific and patient benefits, disclose protocol requirements early, and emphasize the benefit of working with the sponsor or contract organization. The report also discusses how to use investigator meetings to motivate and train study site staff.  
• Provide study sites with continual support for patient enrollment and retention efforts. This report shares best practice findings in giving study sites a variety of communication tools, media strategy tips, and advertising campaigns that address key patient motivational factors. Other practices include training sites on effective recruitment techniques and addressing barriers to participation. To assist sites in retaining patients, other practices include providing incentives for completing the study, training sites to screen patients, using newsletters and interim investigator meetings to share best practices and maintain study momentum, and using measurement systems to drive recruitment and retention efforts.

Next Steps
• Leveraging Marketing and Recruitment Expertise for Clinical Trials Planning
• Defining Site Selection Criteria
• Maximizing Diverse Sources to Identify Sites
• Using Marketing Expertise to Communicate with Study Sites
• Generating Study Interest
• Preparing Sites for Study Success
• Engaging and Enrolling Patients
• Supporting Retention Efforts

List of Charts & Exhibits

Integrate Science and Marketing to Recruit Sites Effectively
Using Knowledge Exchanges to Improve Future Studies
Develop a Partner Relationship to Share Expertise
Clinical Communications Cycle Starts with Patient Information
Site Selection Factors
Strategically Selecting Study Sites
Using Multiple Sources to Select Investigators
Command Center
Example of Site Metrics
Communications Channels
Site Communications Team Members
Emphasizing Appealing Study Aspects
Early Communications
Investigator Meeting Agenda
Communication to Drive Patient Recruitment and Retention
Address Patients’ Motivation Factors through Customized Messages
Trial Enrollment Incentives
Overcome Barriers Preventing Patient Participation
Incentives that Encourage Patients to Remain in Clinical Trials
Train for Process Improvements
Frequent and Effective Communications Drives Study Success
Motivate Sites through Continuous Communication