Top 10 Companies Offering Clinical Trials Patient Recruitment Services

The success of clinical trials is largely dependent on the identification of patients who are willing to actively participate in research studies; various trial sponsors outsource the patient recruitment process to organizations that have the necessary capabilities / expertise to successfully recruit desired number of patients.

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We analyzed more than 155 clinical trial recruitment companies that are actively engaged in offering patient recruitment for clinical trials, across different geographical locations. In this article, discover 10 leading companies that offer clinical trials patient recruitment.

Drug development is a complex and time-intensive process that involves thorough preclinical and clinical research, comprehensive regulatory review, before approval and launch of product into the market. The approval of a drug relies heavily on the outcomes of clinical trials (that are conducted to evaluate the safety and therapeutic effectiveness of a drug). However, patient recruitment is considered to be one of the most arduous facets of conducting clinical trials, consuming around 30% of the associated timeline and frequently causing delays in the trial process. As a result, pharmaceutical companies are increasingly relying on clinical trial patient recruitment companies to leverage their capabilities. According to a research paper published 2018, there is high recruitment cost per patient, making it important to retain the enrolled patients.1 Poor retention rate can lead to increased costs and study delays. Roots Analysis has conducted an exhaustive study on Clinical Trial Patient Recruitment Market, featuring the current market landscape and future opportunities for patient recruitment agencies.

Further, the patient recruitment sector is undergoing promising advancement, paving the way for novel strategies and technologies that aim to overcome the challenges associated with the traditional recruitment process; a notable increase has been observed in the adoption of social media platforms (such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Twitter) as well as mobile applications, in order to recruit diverse and hard-to-reach patients in clinical studies. Various patient recruitment companies have also incorporated modern strategies, such as Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and Real-World Evidence (RWE) for efficiently selecting a pool of eligible patients. Additionally, patient engagement solutions play a vital role in empowering patients to actively participate in their healthcare journey, fostering better patient outcomes and experiences. Examples of the different types of strategies adopted by these players to engage / retain the patients in the trials, include use of study-branded gifts (such as tote bags, water bottles, sanitary wipes and dental kits) and reminders (in the form of post cards, e-mails, text messages, phone calls or study newsletters), availability of educational and support materials (providing answers to any queries related to the trial), reimbursement programs (by offering compensation for their participation, either in monetary form or reimbursement of their accommodation, food vouchers and transportation), and patient engagement websites (such as My Clinical Study Buddy (BBK Worldwide), MyPatient  (ThreeWire) and My Study Map (Acurian)).

Table of Contents

Below, we have listed (in alphabetical order), the top 10 patient recruitment organizations, based on their service portfolio / capabilities (including patient outreach methods and patient retention methods).

Company	Year of Establishment	Headquarters	Employee Count
BBK Worldwide	1983	USA	51-200
Clariness	2005	Germany	51-200
Current Medical Information Center (CMIC)	2005	Japan	5,001-10,000
Continuum Clinical	2014	USA	51-200
IgniteData	2014	United Kingdom	1-50
Innovative Trials	2010	United Kingdom	51-200
nRollmed	2014	Israel	1-50
Trialfacts	2006	Australia	11-50
United BioSource	2003	USA	1,001-5,000
WCG ThreeWire	1999	USA	51-200

Interested in exploring all 155+ clinical trial recruitment companies across various regions?

Established Nearly Three Decades Ago, BBK Worldwide was Acquired for its Clinical Trial Experience Expertise

BBK Worldwide is a consultancy firm that claims to be engaged in offering patient recruitment and retention services to several pharmaceutical, medical device and biotechnology industries. The company employs TrialCentralNet®, a patient recruitment management system and proprietary mobile app platform to recruit and retain patients in the trials. Further, the company uses BIO notifier® to increase recruitment and referral efforts by leveraging the medical expertise of physicians and healthcare professionals. The company was acquired in January 2022 by US based Publicis Healthcare, working in the field of healthcare communications.

96% Success Rate in Difficult-to-enroll Trials

 

The service portfolio of BBK Worldwide includes:

• Patient Outreach Methods - Traditional Media Outreach, Engaging Local Enrolment Specialists, Social Media Outreach, Directly Approaching Individuals, and Exploiting Patient Communities and Advocacy Groups
• Patient Retention Methods - Offering Transportation (to Site) Support and Dedicated Patient Engagement Solutions 

Geographical Reach of the Company - North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World

Recent Developments: In February 2023, the company launched TCN® Engage, a patient engagement system that provides a complete range of visit support services to the patients, from the time they respond to an advertisement for a clinical trial opportunity till the completion of the clinical study. Further information related to patient recruitment associated services and therapeutic expertise is available in the full report.

Clariness Aims to Expedite the Enrollment of Patients in Clinical Trials Through its Extensive Global Network

Clariness is a Germany based patient recruitment and retention firm that offers a wide range of services, including site selection, study feasibility and patient engagement to various research institutions, pharmaceutical companies and CROs. Owing to its technical expertise of more than 15 years, the company focuses on allocating suitable candidates to sites located in over 50 regions. The Enrollment Management Center of the firms employs more than 70 site relationship managers and patient screening specialists that provide assistance in 35 different languages. In addition, Clariness leverages its proprietary ClinLife360 portal for fast, reliable and efficient recruitment of patients in clinical trials. 

>70 Site Managers and Specialists Provide Assistance in 35 Languages

The service portfolio of Clariness includes:

• Patient Outreach Methods – Traditional Media Outreach, Social Media Outreach, Directly Approaching Individuals, Exploiting Patient Communities and Advocacy Groups, Exploiting Real-world Data Sources and Leveraging Proprietary Patient Databases
• Patient Retention Methods – Offering Study-branded Amenities / Education Materials, and Dedicated Patient Engagement Solutions 

Geographical Reach of the Company – North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World

Recent Developments: In July 2022, the firm extended its partnership with Klinische Forschung Berlin to add more studies to the former company’s innovative patient recruitment platform, ClinLife® Registry. Further information related to patient recruitment associated services and therapeutic expertise is available in the full report.

CMIC, Spurring the Growing Virtual Clinical Trials Market in the East

Current Medical Information Center (CMIC) is a Japan based firm that offers superior quality solutions to several academia, bio-ventures, medical device manufacturers and medical institutions and also promotes the development of innovative products (in order to achieve greater health and well-being). Additionally, the company provides patient enrolment and retention services to its clients; the data-driven models allow optimization of the recruitment process and provide efficient results. Through its web community platform and healthcare communication channel, harmo® the company focuses on establishing patient-centered care. In October 2021, Science 37 partnered with CMIC to expand the former’s virtual clinical trials model in Japan and Asia-Pacific Region.

The service portfolio of CMIC includes:

• Patient Outreach Methods – Traditional Media Outreach, Social Media Outreach, Directly Approaching Individual Patients, Exploiting Real World Data Sources, Organizing Large Scale Events / Campaigns and Leveraging Proprietary Patient Databases
• Patient Retention Methods - Offering Transportation (to Site) Support, and Dedicated Patient Engagement Solutions

Geographical Reach of the Company - North America and Asia-Pacific

Recent Developments: In June 2022, the firm participated in DIA 2022 Global Annual Meeting, held in Illinois, US, to build a reputation within the patient recruitment and retention market. Further information related to patient recruitment associated services and therapeutic expertise is available in the full report.

Through its recently launched MERIS™ Total Engagement Solution, Continuum Clinical Streamlines Predictability in Clinical Trials

Continuum Clinical offers clinical trial recruitment and retention services to various top sponsors across the world. The firm is engaged in providing a variety of services, including study and site support, patient recruitment and retention planning, patient advocacy services and analytical solutions. The firm uses its proprietary platform, ContinuVue® in order to identify potential challenges and optimize its patient enrollment approaches.

25+ Years of Global Patient Recruitment Experience

The service portfolio of Continuum Clinical includes:

• Patient Outreach Methods – Traditional Media Outreach, Engaging Local Enrolment Specialists, Social Media Outreach, Directly Approaching Individuals, Exploiting Real World Data Sources and Leveraging Proprietary Patient Databases
• Patient Retention Methods – Offering Study-branded Amenities / Education Materials, Offering Transportation (to Site) Support and Dedicated Patient Engagement Solutions 

Geographical Reach of the Company – North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World

Recent Developments: In February 2023, the company launched MERIS™ Total Engagement Solution to enable direct-to-patient interaction, and streamline the predictability in clinical trials. MERIS™ is a suite of technology solutions for enrollment, retention and analytics. Further information related to patient recruitment associated services and therapeutic expertise is available in the full report.

Ignite Data’s EHR to EDC Software Being Adopted by UK and US Treatment Centers for Transfer of Data to Sponsor’s Study Database

IgniteData focuses on advancing the future of clinical studies through its cloud-based Virtual Research Assistant, Archer. The company’s platform allows easy transfer of clinically validated data directly from the hospital’s EHR to the sponsor’s electronic data capture (EDC), thereby eliminating burdensome manual labor and inefficient data entry. In February 2022, the company entered into a collaboration with ZS to enhance clinical research through the former company’s Archer technology; the cloud-based system identifies, imports, translates and shares the clinically validated patient information with study sponsors for effective recruitment.

> 1 GBP Million Grant Received for Archer

The service portfolio of IgniteData includes:

• Patient Outreach Methods - Traditional Media Outreach, Engaging Local Enrolment Specialists, Social Media Outreach, Directly Approaching Individuals, Exploiting Patient Communities and Advocacy Groups, and Exploiting Real-world Data Sources
• Patient Retention Methods - Offering Study-branded Amenities / Education Materials 

Geographical Reach of the Company - Europe

Recent Developments: In June 2023, the IgniteData entered in to a collaboration with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to provide data integration between the center and sponsor database. Furthermore, in August 2023, IgniteData and AstraZeneca collaborated with University College London Hospitals (UCLH) for evaluating the Archer platform in a phase III oncology clinical trial.2 Further information related to patient recruitment associated services and therapeutic expertise is available in the full report.

Innovative Trials has its eyes on the UK Market, where the Government is Taking Steps to Increase the Patient Enrollment in Commercial Clinical Trials

Innovative Trials is a UK based firm, specializing in offering patient enrolment solutions for various clinical studies through its patient and site-specific approach. The Clinical Enrolment Managers of the company work with investigators (spread across 70 countries) in their local language, either over the phone or in-person. In addition, the firm organizes campaigns to inform the community about the ongoing clinical trials as well as incorporates patient voice to understand the community perspective.

25+ Therapeutic Areas and 90+ Indications

The service portfolio of Innovative trials includes:

• Patient Outreach Methods - Traditional Media Outreach, Engaging Local Enrolment Specialists, Social Media Outreach, Exploiting Patient Communities and Advocacy Groups, and Using Digital Advertising Solutions
• Patient Retention Methods - Offering Study-branded Amenities / Education Materials 

Geographical Reach of the Company - North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Rest of the World

Recent Developments: In July 2022, the firm opened its first international office in Raleigh, North Carolina to support the patients in accessing life-changing treatments within North America, and further expanding its business operations. Further information related to patient recruitment associated services and therapeutic expertise is available in the full report.

Leveraging its Vast Knowledge and Experience, nRollmed Offers Patient Recruitment Services for Challenging Indications 

nRollmed is an Israel based patient recruitment and retention firm, that combines data-driven patient targeting with patient pre-screening and personal site support. The company claims to use advanced patient targeting and digital marketing approaches in order to identify suitable patients for a clinical study, in a specific geography. Further, it does not demand any kind of initial investment for the patient enrolment process; the company only charges the sponsors for the lead candidates and stops the campaign once the patient target is achieved. The firm uses its cloud-based, HIPAA-compliant system, Patient Relationship Management (PRM) tool in order to optimize the patient enrolment process at site level. As disclosed on their website, nRollmed has helped several pharmaceutical companies educate and enroll patients for clinical trials targeting multiple indications including acne, preterm birth, pediatric myopia and ulcerative colitis amongst others.

50% Faster Enrollment

The service portfolio of nRollmed includes:

• Patient Outreach Methods - Social Media Outreach, Directly Approaching Individuals and Exploiting Patient Communities and Advocacy Groups
• Patient Retention Methods - Offering Study-branded Amenities / Education Materials, and Dedicated Patient Engagement Solutions

Geographical Reach of the Company - North America, Europe and Rest of the World

The company considers patient-centric strategies as the first step in building a long-lasting relationship with the patients; it assesses the requirements of different trials, adapts its approaches accordingly and assists in supplying the potential candidates on a monthly basis to its clients. Moreover, the company has a team of experts that contact the potential individuals for a detailed interview, perform pre-screening and educate them about the importance of participation in clinical study. Further information related to patient recruitment associated services and therapeutic expertise is available in the full report.

With 16 Years Experience in Patient Recruitment, Trialfacts has Many Successful Case Studies to Share

Trialfacts is focused on enrolling eligible and sufficient number of patients in clinical trials through its data-driven strategies. The company claims to work closely with several biotechnology and pharmaceutical firms, CROs and research universities in order to accelerate patient recruitment. The “Recruitment Guaranteed Method” of the company comprises of six elements, including data-driven forecasting, effective promotional campaigns, time saving technology, positive patient experience, best practices for recruitment and monitoring performance metrics. 

30,000 Patients Enrolled in 800 Clinical Trials

The service portfolio of Trialfacts includes:

• Patient Outreach Methods - Social Media Outreach, Directly Approaching Individuals and Leveraging Proprietary Patient Databases
• Patient Retention Methods - Offering Transportation (to Site) Support, and Dedicated Patient Engagement Solutions 

Geographical Reach of the Company - North America, Europe and Rest of the World

The firm is compliant with Good Clinical Practices (GCP) and Human Research Ethics Committees (HRECs) requirement. Further information related to patient recruitment associated services and therapeutic expertise is available in the full report.

United BioSource, Supporting the Decentralized Research Market Through Partnerships

United BioSource is dedicated towards providing integrated clinical research, safety, risk evaluation and mitigation strategy (REMS) and commercialization services. The company specializes in evidence-based research for rare disorders, novel therapeutic indications and specialty therapies. It claims to provide clinical trial nursing services in 60 countries. UBC has partnered with Thread, a developer of decentralized research platform, to launch an innovative research model, SitePlus that enables direct-to-patient recruitment approaches, as well as promotes enrollment of diverse patient population. The platform brings together UBC's core expertise in principal investigator and patient coordination with the latter company’s comprehensive technology platform and consulting services, encompassing data capture, telehealth and patient involvement. 

6.8 Conversations (on average) with Patients

The service portfolio of United BioSource includes:

• Patient Outreach Methods - Traditional Media Outreach, Social Media Outreach, Directly Approaching Individuals, Exploiting Patient Communities and Advocacy Groups and Exploiting Real-world Data Sources
• Patient Retention Methods - Offering Study-branded Amenities / Education Materials, Offering Transportation (to Site) Support and Dedicated Patient Engagement Solutions 

Geographical Reach of the Company - North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World

Recent Developments: In February 2022, the company entered into a partnership with Seqster in order to facilitate the transition from traditional site-based studies to decentralized clinical trials, as well as enhance patient engagement. More recently, in July 2023, the company partnered with Tasso for use of its at-home blood collection device to make sample collection easier for the patients. Further information related to patient recruitment associated services and therapeutic expertise is available in the full report.

WCG ThreeWire is Overcoming the Challenges of Clinical Sites by Providing Site Support Services  

WCG ThreeWire, a wholly owned subsidiary of WIRB-Copernicus Group, is a patient recruitment firm that strives to improve the performance and productivity of clinical study sites. The company has a dedicated team of professionals that implement tailored recruitment strategies for different CROs, pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms. The firm exclusively and intensively assesses patient histories, and identifies protocol-eligible candidates. In addition to patient recruitment and retention, the company also provides site augmentation services by providing the clinical sites with the resources for overcoming staffing shortages to ensure smooth running of clinical trials.

44% Improved Timeline of Clinical Study Enrollment

The service portfolio of WCG ThreeWire includes:

• Patient Outreach Methods - Traditional Media Outreach, Social Media Outreach, Directly Approaching Individuals, Organizing Large Scale Events / Campaigns and Leveraging Proprietary Patient Databases
• Patient Retention Methods - Offering Study-branded Amenities / Education Materials, Offering Transportation (to Site) Support and Dedicated Patient Engagement Solutions 

Geographical Reach of the Company - North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World

Recent Developments: In May 2022, the company entered into a collaboration with Deep 6 AI to leverage their solutions and technologies, to accelerate patient enrollment in clinical trials. Further information related to patient recruitment associated services and therapeutic expertise is available in the full report.

What About the Other Patient Recruitment Organizations?

The above presentation features ten promising clinical trial patient recruitment firms selected from a pool of over 155 firms that we have compiled. If you're interested, you can download the Sample Report on this topic by Roots Analysis. For personalized assistance in identifying the most relevant solutions based on your specific criteria, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at sales@rootsanalysis.com. 

 

About Author

Simran_Kaur

Simran is a Senior Business Analyst, working as an integral part of the Roots Analysis team since 2020. Holding a Master’s and Bachelor’s in pharmacy from a prestigious institution, she embarked on her professional journey with a strong academic foundation and an interest in life sciences industry. Her keenness to learn more about the emerging trends, regulatory dynamics and technological advancements enables her to provide comprehensive insights. Till date, she has diligently contributed to over 15 in-depth market research reports on trending topics, ranging from anti-aging therapeutics, allogeneic cell therapies, lipid nanoparticles, pre-sterilized pharmaceutical packaging to next generation sequencing kits.