The Challenges of the Lack of Samples in Studies
Access to samples is essential to researchers’ experiments and assays. This is important when researchers are developing a proof of concept and they need a small set of samples, but it’s also important throughout the duration of studies.
At the beginning of their studies, access to data allows researchers to “get their feet” wet and assess their ability to produce real-world data. That’s pivotal to allowing researchers to continue with a project and pitch it effectively to upper management to secure funding and leadership support.
Because Sanguine can provide data-rich samples quickly, we can help support researchers in securing well-funded research projects. Researchers also rely on Sanquine’s strong relationships with patients and same-day delivery of samples to keep their studies on schedule.
Loss of time and expense and how it increases the cost of a study
The traditional model for accessing patients for clinical trials involves outreach to clinicians. But clinicians are largely focused on patient care, rather than research. This is a passive approach to access patients for clinical trials.
This passive approach means lost time because the researcher has to wait to hear back from clinicians. Ultimately, this takes a lot of time, which leads to increases in cost.
By way of contrast, Sanguine embraces an active approach to patient recruitment. While we partner with clinicians to confirm patients’ diagnoses and get a full review of their medical records, we minimize the timeline because of our direct relationships with patients.
Missed research time waiting for samples
Researchers have deadlines imposed by their leadership team or to submit abstracts for conference presentations. When they’re dependent on clinicians to recruit patients–a passive approach–they risk not achieving results and not adhering to timelines.
The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly put stress on clinical trials. Indeed, many studies have been placed on hold. Sanguine can help because we provide in-home visits to capture blood samples from study participants. Without access to a partner like Sanguine, researchers could be losing out on those blood draws, thus delaying achievement of their endpoints.
Challenges in patient recruitment
Strict inclusion and exclusion criteria mean researchers need to hone in on very specific patient profiles. This is particularly a concern in early phases of trials; it’s less of a concern in later stages.
Researchers rely on Sanguine to identify very specific patient profiles, which is difficult to achieve when working with clinicians or biobanks. While clinicians are limited by the number of patients in their practice, biobanks also have limitations. Namely, biobanks’ samples have already been collected. When a researcher has strict criteria, accessing the appropriate samples at a biobank is challenging. For example, in a clinical trial of patients with lupus, it’s more difficult for researchers to get the samples they need from a biobank if they want to exclude patients with comorbidities.
Biobank samples also aren’t fresh. That means the samples won’t be useful to many researchers. Because of our nationwide network of patients, Sanguine can access samples based on researchers’ exclusion and inclusion criteria. Within hours of the blood draw, samples can be hand-delivered to researchers.
Patients searching for relevant clinical trials find ClinicalTrials.gov difficult to navigate. Sanguine takes an active approach by educating patients about appropriate studies and makes the research accessible to them. That starts when research is in the translational study phase, even before it becomes a clinical trial. And that lays the groundwork for getting patients to participate when translational studies become clinical trials.
Lack of samples needed/challenge
Researchers’ projects come to a standstill without access to quality samples. This is important because researchers are trying to solve problems, build their pipelines, and have a beneficial impact on society with their work.
