News By: Gary Cramer

It can be difficult to find qualified and motivated candidates for clinical research job openings who are following all the rules. So, when competition gets so cutthroat that an entire shadow network of fake references springs up to help foist illegitimate new hires on short-staffed or over-eager employers via trickery, caution should be the hiring manager’s byword.

Recently, an industry driven by metrics admitted it’s probably not making the most of its data. This conclusion—noted in the marketing sector—offers both a warning and sound advice for the pharmaceutical industry, which collects data from its investigator meetings, speaker trainings, and ad boards, but often doesn’t have all necessary resources to convert this information into meaningful metrics and actionable insights that can impact business strategy.

We need to make it easier for people to participate in clinical research. The strategies employed to connect patients with clinical research sites also need to vary by geography. There are distinct differences between urban, suburban, and rural communities. Successful outreach requires cultural competency, knowledge of how care is delivered, and attention paid to how research is understood in local markets.

Today, researchers still face challenges in accessing deep, diverse, longitudinal, fit-for-purpose real-world data. Recent technological advancements like purpose-built large language models can help with these challenges. When paired with novel patient-mediated approaches to data collection and generation, they are finally helping to unlock the full potential of medical data to drive better research and improve healthcare.

Research within the rare diseases space brings its own set of challenges associated with clinical care, regulatory compliance, and commercial activities within the clinical trials environment. Managing each of these realms requires a deep knowledge of the disease state, the development space, and what data and evidence the regulatory authorities and payers will demand.