How can patient-facing materials and patient recruitment translations facilitate recruitment of patients particularly to countries underrepresented in global drug development? As we discussed in our latest Clinical Trial Corner post, some countries and regions, largely in the Middle East and Africa, are being overlooked by sponsors of industry clinical trials (iCTs) due to lack of evidence of historical performance in iCTs. One way to break out of this vicious circle is by delivering and showing strong recruitment potential across languages at every opportunity (e.g., in rescue trials, when endpoints are at risk of not being met) and thus build these countries’ reputation among industry sponsors.
Leveraging timely and high-quality patient recruitment translations in local languages, from website localization to social media and patient-facing clinical trial document translations, enables investigators and other study stakeholders to engage and attract underrepresented patient populations, and improve diversity globally in iCTs.
Recruitment Can Make or Break Clinical Trials
Unsuccessful patient recruitment has been shown to be one of the biggest barriers to clinical trial completion – 19% of clinical trials were terminated because of insufficient recruitment, and upwards of 86% of trials experience costly delays due to recruitment difficulties. One of the reasons for these recruitment challenges is saturation of traditional CT markets.
Conducting clinical trials at sites in underutilized iCT markets around the world can help overcome these recruitment challenges by diverting a portion of iCTs away from increasingly saturated North American and European iCT markets, and including more research subject populations, as well as investigators and future prescribers in high-growth emerging markets across South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Patient recruitment success in these non-traditional iCTs markets depends critically on multilingual recruitment strategies customized for each market.
Well-Translated Websites Engage Potential Subjects
Clinical trial websites are a critical aspect of patient recruitment, and translating websites for new multilingual markets requires both extensive pharmaceutical and engineering knowledge for success. Especially in diverse, underrepresented markets where patients have not previously had access to iCTs, there is little room for errors in communication. Quality assurance measures like cloud-based terminology management ensure uniform understanding across language-specific websites, while linguistic, cosmetic, and functional testing of a website guarantee a seamless user experience for potential participants.
Social Media Can Supercharge Recruitment
In addition to traditional methods of recruitment, well-localized social media advertising can aid clinical trials in meeting recruitment goals. Amid the rise of telehealth solutions during the COVID-19 pandemic and industry focus on decentralized CTs, meeting patients in their everyday life is crucial for recruitment success. Social media can more directly communicate with potential study participants, reach more diverse patient populations, and can even reduce per-participant recruitment costs. Country and region-specific translations knowledge, from in-country linguistic review to user interface subject matter experts, enables CROs, pharmaceutical companies, and other industry stakeholders to take advantage of local social media trends, UI standards, and the best platforms on which to advertise, to ultimately meet trial recruitment endpoints.
Patients Stay Informed Throughout Clinical Trials
Patient recruitment translations do not stop when a patient signs the informed consent form – they extend all the way through completion of the trial. Accurately translated patient-facing materials, from informed consent form and patient portal translations to localized patient diaries and email communications all help patients stay engaged throughout the trial to reduce dropout rates and prevent the need for additional recruitment measures. Effective communication in local languages can also engage family support systems, enhance referrals from patient advocacy groups, and even involve local healthcare professionals – future prescribers of your pharmaceutical.
CSOFT Health Sciences Knows Patient Recruitment Translations
CSOFT Health Sciences’ global network of over 10,000 in-country native and pharmaceuticals subject-matter expert linguists enables pharma stakeholders to succeed in patient recruitment across the world and particularly in new, underrepresented markets. Our expertise in translations in over 250+ languages, from Georgian in Georgia to Arabic in Algeria and Bengali in Bangladesh, ensures your patient recruitment translations are accurate, culturally sensitive, and efficient, every time. Visit lifesciences.csoftintl.com to learn more about our full range of medical translations.