A Patient-Focused Solution for Enrolling Clinical Trials in Rare and Selective Cancer Indications: A Landscape of Haystacks and Needles

Participation of adult cancer patients in US-based clinical trials has remained near 3% for decades. Traditional research methodology reaches a small fraction of the target population with a fixed number of predetermined sites. Solutions are needed to ethically increase patient participation and accelerate cancer trial completion. We compared enrollment outcomes of traditional and patient-focused research methodologies. A patient-prioritized method (Just-In-Time; JIT) was implemented in parallel with traditionally managed sites in three cancer trials. JIT research sites were initiated after candidate patients presented, while traditional sites were initiated in advance. JIT sites enrolled with mean rates no less than and up to 2.75-fold greater than traditional sites. Mean patients enrolled per site was comparable (JIT = 1.82, traditional = 1.78). There were fewer nonenrolling JIT sites (2/28, 7%) compared to traditional sites 19/52, 37%). This retrospective analysis supports JIT as a prospective solution to increase cancer clinical trial enrollment and the efficiency of clinical trial administrative activities. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]