Marketing in Clinical Trials - Advertising for Patient Recruitment and Retention

Details

Supervisors

Kervyn de Meerendré, Nicolas

Faculty

Louvain School of Management

Degree label

Master [60] en sciences de gestion (horaire décalé)

Abstract

Marketing can occur at any situation where needs or wants coexist with the ability to provide an answer to these. Taking into account this broad spectrum, it is no surprise that Marketing is also present in the healthcare industry. Further focusing into the Clinical Trials domain, the research performed demonstrated the growing relevance of Marketing approaches, and more specifically, the increasing manifestation and importance of the promotional part of the Marketing’s operational component. Clinical Trials’ success can be menaced by a plethora of reasons, with the concern regarding the recruitment and retention of participants standing out as one of the main challenges. Trialists recur to different marketing tools to assist on recruitment and retention of trial volunteers, with the research performed showing that despite the various supports and platforms where this materials can be embedded, the perfect mix is usually sought to ensure maximum efficiency. Finally, the spread of Marketing throughout the Clinical Trial endeavor was explored. Presently it is mainly used in patient recruitment and retention, however with increasing trial complexity and competition, some trialists are realizing that Marketing could be infiltrated into the entire clinical trial segments. The research performed revealed that this way of thinking might gain a place in the future but it is still at an early stage, mainly due to cost and effort considerations.