We are drug development industry and academic veterans who, through our own serendipitous participation in clinical trials, have realized the vast, untapped potential for innovation, should it become normalized for drug development professionals to have personal experience participating in clinical trials.
I had spent many years researching the ins and outs of clinical trials. But I realized I never had been in one before. So, a few years ago, I decided to enroll in an observational study to experience being a participant in a study. I was surprised by the sophistication of technology platforms employed. However, I was also surprised by lengthy consent forms and other legal language that is likely overwhelming to most. This experience led me to work on the Pharma as Patients initiative to get more of us involved in clinical research as patients and healthy volunteers, all with the goal of creating faster feedback loops and agility within the drug development process.
Sheila Mahoney, Drug Development Cross-Functionalist
As an industry veteran who for 20+ years has heard of the difficulties (and cost) of clinical trial recruitment, I was surprised at my own difficulty trying to enroll as a clinical trial participant. Using clinicaltrials.gov I found 3 industry-sponsored trials. I met all the inclusion/exclusion criteria. One sponsor never called me back. Another said “if you want more information, check ct.gov”, the third said they’d pass my information on to the site and someone would contact me. No one did. It made me realize that if more of us became direct clinical trial participants it could open up untapped channels of learning and innovation.