ICTS concludes enrollment months ahead of schedule for rheumatology study

ICTS, the patient recruitment and clinical trial services company, has successfully completed the fifth in a series of rheumatology study recruitment efforts for the same sponsor. Using an integrated approach that centered around a study website, social media (both Facebook and Twitter), geographically initiated keyword search advertising, and also included site enrollment toolkits, the program exceeded the enrollment timelines established by the sponsor. "The unique protocol criteria, combined with the number of investigator sites and the study team's objectives required a recruitment initiative that allowed the sites to handle all the referrals," stated Gregg Sweet, ICTS' VP of Strategy and Development. The integration of several key functions in the recruitment program created a viral Internet marketing effect and shortened the projected enrollment timeline while simultaneously keeping costs to a minimum through the use of performance-based media.

“With the extremely difficult criteria for enrollment, it made more sense to direct the bulk of the screening to the sites while still maintaining a modest level of pre-screening via the study website.”

"Our experience with Internet marketing and our familiarity with the indication allowed us to create a recruitment plan that worked," says Mr. Sweet. "With the extremely difficult criteria for enrollment, it made more sense to direct the bulk of the screening to the sites while still maintaining a modest level of pre-screening via the study website." The use of the study website as the portal for all patient activity served to streamline the referral process from Facebook, Twitter as well as maximize the use of the personalized site materials. Search engine optimization and geographically identified searches added another component to delivering highly qualified potential participants to the study website and to the social media portals. In fact, ICTS' online recruitment strategy outperformed a separate, traditional media plan by 97%.

The net effect of the ICTS effort was that enrollment concluded several months ahead of schedule at a per-patient cost that was far below sponsor goals and expectations.