Patient recruitment

Patient recruitment includes a variety of services—typically performed by a Patient Recruitment Service Provider—to increase enrollment into clinical trials. Presently, the patient recruitment industry is claimed to total $5.9 billion per year.

Patient enrollment is the most time-consuming aspect of the clinical trial process. The leading cause of missed clinical trial deadlines is patient recruitment, taking up to 30 percent of the clinical timeline. Improving patient recruitment rates offers pharmaceutical and medical device companies one of the biggest opportunities to accelerate the pace of clinical trials – making it possible to reduce time to market. As the number of patients needed for clinical trials rises – as safety and regulatory issues drive trends toward larger and longer trials – the demand for patient recruitment services grows.