Impact of direct physician-to-physician contact on accelerating oncology clinical trial accrual
6613 Background: The development of more effective oncology agents is critically dependent on the completion of clinical trials; currently, >4000 oncology trials listed in www.clinicaltrials.gov are accruing pts in the US. Unfortunately, only 3–5% of new cancer pts participate in clinical trials and most trials do not meet their projected accrual timelines. Barriers to pt accrual include physician awareness & attitudes, access to protocols, administrative burdens to conduct clinical trials, cost to physicians and pts, and pt concerns about participation in research trials. To overcome at least some of these barriers, we investigated a strategy to improve clinical trial accrual that optimizes trial placement and awareness through a direct physician to physician intervention. Methods: For each site, a customized enrollment plan is established after initial assessment of interest and accrual potential. Implementation of the enrollment plan includes clinical communications and medical support delivered through direct physician to physician interactions. From Feb 2008 to December 2008, we implemented this strategy to increase accrual to 5 oncology trials (2 placebo controlled randomized trials and 3 phase II trials in breast cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and soft tissue sarcoma). Results: The implementation of direct physician to physician intervention resulted in a measurable improvement of between 50 - 300% in the monthly accrual to each of these 5 trials. Despite being significantly behind projections, 2 of the trials have now completed accrual on schedule. In the ongoing phase III study, accrual has improved from an average of 3.8 pts/mo to 13.5 pts/mo. Conclusions: The use of our current model of optimizing trial placement and awareness through a direct physician to physician intervention has been successful in significantly accelerating clinical trial accrual in 5/5 trials initiated to date. [Table: see text] [Table: see text]