RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., Feb. 17 — Delayed clinical trials come at a cost – for a blockbuster drug as much as $8 million in revenue could be lost each day that a clinical trial is extended beyond expectations. Meanwhile, niche drugs can lose upwards of $600,000 per day as clinical trials are prolonged. Most commonly, clinical trial deadlines are missed due to patient shortfalls. Research from Cutting Edge Information ( http://www.accelearatedclinicaltrials.com/ ), reveals that forecasts estimate that there will be a 15% shortfall in patients needed for clinical trials in 2005.
Excellent patient retention efforts need to begin before actual recruitment begins. Designing a clear message that meets the need of the target audience will help enroll and retain patients faster. Many top companies have learned to set up call centers and channel all the patient targets to a centralized location. Here, data can be gathered to improve the current campaign and for use in future trials.
“Patient shortfalls most commonly occur due to non-compliance and dropout rates. As a result, companies are adding extra enrollment requirements,” says Senior Analyst Jon Hess of Cutting Edge Information. “However, the best way to speed up a clinical trial is by doing the opposite – lower patient enrollment requirements and reduce the dropout rate – to save time and money.””Accelerating Clinical Trials: Budgets, Patient Recruitment and Productivity” is a comprehensive report featuring metrics and business practices from several top industry pharmaceutical companies including AstraZeneca, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Roche, Eli Lilly, Parexel, Quintiles and Wyeth. The report, available at http://www.acceleratedclinicaltrials.com/ , also reveals the following data to help clinical development teams refine strategy and streamline operations:
– 2004 clinical affairs budgets
– Investigator meeting budgets
– Per-patient clinical costs by phase and therapeutic area
– Clinical trial performance measures
– Clinical outsourcing spending patterns
To download a free summary of this 153-page report, please visit http://www.acceleratedclinicaltrials.com
