SITE SELECTION
If 2020 has amplified anything for us, it’s that running a clinical trial is complicated. And for what feels like the first time in a long time, the entire world has eyes on our industry. We’ve been presented with the opportunity and demand to change the status quo across protocol design, patient experience, and clinical monitoring, just to name a few. And another important topic that must be revisited is the site selection process.
The numbers behind clinical trial performance are not favorable, with 70% of trials experiencing start-up delays, nearly 80% of trials failing to meet on-time enrollment, and 45% of trials completing beyond original projected timelines.1,2 Trial success is often jeopardized by factors foreseeable during the site selection process, specifically across start-up, patient recruitment, and site staffing.3,4,5 However, our current approaches for assessing potential sites is not keeping pace with the increase in trial complexity observed across the industry.6 By adjusting our strategy during this critical state of a trial, we take a step toward improving overall clinical trial performance and ultimately advancing treatments more quickly and efficiently.