Study identifies several risk factors linked to low patient-accrual rates in cancer clinical trials

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research CenterDec 31 2015

A new study by researchers at the Hutchinson Institute for Cancer Outcomes Research (HICOR) at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington has found that 20 percent of cancer clinical trials fail to draw enough participants to render verdicts on experimental therapies.

The study identified several risk factors associated with low patient-accrual rates in cancer clinical trials. Such barriers to participation include studies that require a tissue sample or biopsy, and those that disclose that participants may not (or will not) be treated with a new drug or therapy.

Those available to discuss the findings, published this week in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, are first and corresponding author Dr. Carrie Bennette, a postdoctoral researcher in HICOR, and health care economist and co-author Dr. Scott Ramsey, director of HICOR.