Rescue Mode Happens, But Does it Have to?

As part of our growing focus on Life Sciences at Investis Digital, we are opening up our blog to expert guest contributors on the topic. Today, we are featuring a guest post by Gregg Sweet from The Harte Group, writing on Rescue Mode and meeting patient recruitment deadlines.

Recently we received an RFP for a long-running trial that was up against an incredibly tight enrollment deadline. How tight? Weeks. Yes, this is an extreme case, but it is just one example of what is commonly known as rescue mode.

We truly believe sponsors don’t like to send RFPs with “impossible” patient recruitment deadlines. And we think we can speak for all patient recruitment companies when we say that we don’t like seeing those deadlines since there are fewer tools available and more, often than not, more costly to our client. However, it continues to happen as so many clinical trials fail to meet enrollment expectations and the planning for marketing support for patient recruitment happens late in the process.

It has been widely reported that 66% of sites don’t meet enrollment requirements for a given trial. This figure has not changed dramatically for years. Understanding this going in, regardless of what pretrial surveys show, should help sponsors know that marketing support will probably be needed to achieve enrollment goals. However, all too often planning (and budgeting) for patient recruitment support happens well after enrollment lags. This is perhaps because sponsors and CROs think “maybe this time” the sites will defy history and “this time” enrollment will happen exactly as predicted. This assumption has led to more than a few rescue mode RFPs pinging our inboxes.

Why Not Rescue Mode?

Simply put, rescue mode limits efficiency. With more time to enroll patients, we can plan and execute an integrated marketing program that maximizes effectiveness and minimizes cost – we can phase, we can pilot, we can evaluate, and we can prioritize. We can pick and choose the best locations to provide support based on site performance and interest. In short, we can do more with less budget to positively influence enrollment.

In rescue mode, however, we must do much more in less time to ensure we reach enough people to generate enough response to fill the trial quickly. There is little time to pilot initiatives, evaluate effectiveness, and execute the best, most cost-efficient tactics. In many cases, we have to go full “spaghetti mode” — throw as many marketing support tactics against the wall to see what sticks, including the kitchen sink. This always costs more and is much less efficient than had we been involved earlier.

We understand “rescue mode happens,” and we do work closely with our clients to ensure we build the best programs to meet their needs regardless of the circumstances, but our preference, and we are sure our clients’ preference, is to develop and execute a program at the beginning so we can not only exceed our clients expectations with a successful program, but deliver that program for as little of their investment as possible.

To learn more about this contributing author, click here.

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If you have any questions about our Life Sciences practice, please contact Ian Koenig at [email protected].