Consensus recommendations for improving the cancer clinical trial matching environment

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Health Services Research
• Clinical Informatics

Background:

• Patient enrollment in cancer clinical trials hinges on matching patient characteristics with trial criteria.
• A significant barrier to clinical trial participation is the lack of onsite matching trials.
• Current site-agnostic cancer clinical trial matching tools and infrastructure are fragmented and not interoperable.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify policy and infrastructure solutions for improving third-party, site-agnostic cancer clinical trial matching.
• To examine challenges hindering efficient and effective trial matching.
• To propose consensus recommendations for a more coordinated matching environment.

Main Methods:

• Convened a 2019 summit with stakeholders in the cancer clinical trial field.
• Examined existing barriers and challenges in cancer clinical trial matching.
• Developed policy and infrastructure recommendations based on stakeholder input.

Main Results:

• Identified fragmentation and lack of interoperability as key issues in current matching environments.
• Highlighted the need for improved coordination among public and private matching tools.
• Generated consensus recommendations for policy and infrastructure enhancements.

Conclusions:

• Addressing the identified barriers requires coordinated policy and infrastructure solutions.
• Enhanced collaboration can improve the efficiency and frequency of cancer clinical trial matching.
• Implementing recommendations can facilitate greater patient participation in clinical trials.