The Inextricable Link Between Fast and Accurate Feasibility and Clinical Research Success

Clinical trial feasibility is a critical stage of all clinical trials that can heavily dictate its ultimate success. The site feasibility phase enables sponsors and CROs to understand the likely outcomes if a study were to be conducted at a specific study site, leading to successful candidate recruitment and enabling the study to proceed.

Study sites and health care organizations invest copious amounts of time and money conducting feasibility questionnaires, often relying on high-level diagnosis codes and other, sometimes, outdated methods. This results in, what the industry calls, “poor feasibility.” Too often at the end of the process, sites find themselves with lists of candidates that are mismatched or ill-suited for the protocol. Sites take on the wrong protocols, as a result. Delays can significantly hamper all organizations involved in the study, from the pharmaceutical manufacturer on down, and can scuttle the trial altogether. Estimates suggest that nearly 85% of clinical trials fail to enroll enough patients to conduct a successful study.

For these reasons, speed and accuracy are critical in feasibility. The ability to conduct “good feasibility” dramatically impacts availability of resources and revenue, the reputation of the site, patient access, and probability of site success.

BEKhealth’s clinical research technology platform dramatically increases the speed with which sites can conduct feasibility, generating a true and precise patient feasibility report in real-time. BEKhealth connects to a research organization’s or healthcare network’s EMR data network and scans for patients who meet 90% or more of both the inclusion and exclusion criteria, as outlined in the protocol. The platform can also inform which patients may be candidates in the future, if not today. At present, BEKhealth is integrated with most of the major EMR vendors. Adapters can be created for others.

Accelerated feasibility saves time and money and enables research organizations to operate more efficiently. Perhaps more importantly, and as witnessed throughout the Covid pandemic, it can lead to the speedier development of sorely needed drugs and life-saving therapies.