Rarecast

The recruitment of patients for rare disease clinical trials can be challenging because of issues such as small patient populations and their geographic dispersity, but the failure to take a patient-centric approach in designing trial protocols can add to the difficulties sponsors face in conducting such studies. The Center for Rare Diseases at PRA Health Sciences recently issued a toolkit focused on patient-centric trial development for sponsors, participants, and advocates. We spoke to Scott Schliebner, senior vice president and head of the Center for Rare Diseases, about designing patient-centric clinical trials, why it matters, and what sponsors can do to stay focused on patients.