24 Apr It’s Time to Give Patients a Seat at the Table

By Chris Boone, MedCityNews

Clinical trials represent a critical path to innovative treatments, life-changing cures, and medical progress. But for all their scientific rigor, most trials fail to include one crucial element: input from the very people they aim to help.

In the past, patients have had little say in how clinical trials are designed. The responsibility of trial design is usually left to academics, clinicians, statisticians, and industry experts. However, a recent study by the Health Stories Project found that 97% of patients believe it is important for biopharmaceutical companies to include patient feedback when designing clinical trials. Additionally, 83% of patients expressed interest in providing feedback. Unfortunately, most trials do not incorporate the patient voice, which leads to 85% of clinical trials failing to retain enough patients to reach completion. This lack of patient involvement has resulted in many trials providing minimal real-world benefits at best and causing harm at worst. Read more…