To reach more patients across Europe, we're now a part of
The emovis Patient Access Group team has been successfully recruiting study participants for other study sites since 2020 and has produced one or two best cases of which we are very proud.
On behalf of the sponsor Heidelberg Immuno Therapeutics, emovis took over the implementation of a genital herpes study and a labial herpes study. In both cases, we not only mastered the very challenging study design, but also the recruitment of participants – with flying colors! We succeeded in recruiting a large number of patients through very successful advertising campaigns.
When recruitment stagnates, it can drive you crazy. But that is not the case for a solution-oriented company like emovis! We won’t let recruitment challenges drive you crazy. At one stage, we were only able to randomize four people over several months for an obesity project. The reason? Money, money, money: After a few short months, the recruitment budget was used up. So, what did we do? We evaluated our previous measures – with clear success, whereupon the sponsor was happy to provide us with further budget. In no time at all, recruitment picked up again. Every three months, we reported on our measures and each time we were satisfied to see that they were working! As a result, we kept receiving additional budget, even though only in bite sized portions. Through targeted collaboration with the sponsor, the recruitment goal of 25 randomized individuals was ultimately even exceeded.
"It was with pleasure that I reviewed the current report and I am always impressed how skillfully emovis is able to promote recruitment! emovis has earned lasting merit with us as the flagship of recruitment in both of our studies and we know we can always count on you!"
These words come from the contractor of a cold sore study and praise like this is of course music to our ears. It confirms our fundamental stance of giving it our all, especially when it comes to recruitment. Or to use the beautiful metaphor of the sponsor: When our "recruiting ship" sets sail, it does so with full sails!
We would like to add that within the framework of this project, we did not only recruit for our own study site, but were also able to lend a hand to another site. Thus, we conducted recruitment activities in the respective city and forwarded potential study participants. All in all, we would like to thank the sponsor not only for their trust in us, but also for the extremely pleasant cooperation.
Depending on the study, the search for suitable participants can punch smaller or larger holes into the recruitment budget. We came out on top during an influenza study in which we were able to achieve a remarkable "cost per randomization" value: Only 144 euros was invested per randomized participant. Calculated down to all calls, a telephone call just used 8 euros of the budget. The fact that we were able to achieve these values, which are far below the average, is thanks to our large community, which we reach through our regularly published patient newsletter.
With the onset of the pandemic, we had several corresponding projects on our agenda. One of our most visible campaigns in 2020 and 2021 was aimed at recruiting participants for various Corona studies. No less than 4,422 people called us to find out about potential participation, so our busy little bees on the patient hotline had their hands full. We were not able to reach the randomization target in all studies, because the study protocols were quite challenging. Nevertheless, we are very proud of our campaign, which spanned 20 different channels and are pleased in our involvement in the development of Corona vaccines and medicines.