A biopharmaceutical company ran multiple Phase II/III orphan drug studies evaluating a drug for a rare pulmonary disorder. The treatment regimen required daily oral dosing and safety blood draws every 2 weeks with a treatment duration of up to 2 years. The study struggled with compliance with the frequent blood draws, due in part to patients’ disease symptoms which included fatigue and faintness, making travel to sites difficult. The blood draws required local and central lab processing and the sponsor found that walk-in service centers for local lab draws were inconsistent and problematic.

Accellacare In-Home Services (formerly Symphony Clinical Research) was contracted to provide remote blood draws for select visits and local and central lab sample processing throughout the US and Canada.

The study found that there was a significantly lower dropout rate for patients that utilised In-Home Services. Site-only patients had a dropout rate of 67%, while homecare patients had a dropout rate of 3%, leading to an overall dropout rate of 23% for the study.