Cancer clinical trials have seen a drastic drop in patient enrollment since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, driven in part by some institutions pausing recruitment in order to prevent the spread of the virus.
Bringing enrollment numbers back up safely will prove crucial for researchers running clinical trials and the drug companies that sponsor them. In a new paper published Thursday in JAMA Oncology, researchers surveyed cancer patients to gauge their willingness to participate in clinical trials once enrollment restrictions lifted, even if Covid-19 was still spreading in their community.
The nationwide survey of 933 patients, conducted between May and June 2020, revealed that nearly 1 in 5 patients were hesitant to participate, mostly from the fear of being exposed to Covid-19, although the majority of the responders felt undeterred when it came to the idea of participating in future trials.
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