Among the many obstacles drug companies face in bringing a product to market, recruiting clinical trial volunteers has become increasingly difficult, according to a recent article on www.washingtonpost.com by Lenny Bernstein. Bernstein states that more than 10% of trials in 2011 failed due to a lack of test subjects. Some of the factors for low recruitment listed in the article include complexity of trials, increased exclusions, and little public awareness of available trials.
Clinicaltrials.gov provides a list of registered studies, which, as shown in the graph below, has increased significantly in the last thirteen years. Part of this increase is a result of events expanding registration requirements, indicated by the diamonds on the graph.
Researchers are in need of volunteers in all four phases of the trial process; specifically phase three, which requires thousands of volunteers to participate. Sponsors and researchers have been working to increase advertising and outreach to recruit more trial participants, and are especially reliant on referrals from primary care physicians.
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