With a growing population of those suffering from unique medical conditions (such as rare kidney disease), the challenge can often be how to best reach this audience and connect them with solutions such as clinical trials.

83bar has pioneered an innovative way to find those with unique diseases, screen them based on a set of inclusion and exclusion criteria, and even handle the entire communications flow to get them enrolled in a clinical trial.

We often refer to this process as our Patient Activation System, and we were able to apply our proven system to two of our clients enrolling patients for clinical trials for both a common as well as rare kidney disease.

Complexities of Reaching Kidney Disease Audiences

What makes kidney disease particularly unique is that it is a very complex condition with a variety of symptoms, causes, and terminology. Furthermore, the degrees to which the population experience these diseases can be quite vast ranging from a large percentage of the population to a very small segment who experience rare kidney diseases.

For example, one of the clients we worked with was conducting a clinical trial for focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). With this particular condition, scar tissue develops within the kidney which affects the filtration functions of the kidney leading to the loss of proteins through urine. This is a serious condition that can ultimately lead to kidney failure.

The National Organization for Rare Disorders estimates that FSGS only affects about seven people per million in the general population. It accounts for about 40% of adults with nephrotic syndrome and even about 20% of children.

The National Organization for Rare Disorders estimates that FSGS only affects about seven people per million in the general population. It accounts for about 40% of adults with nephrotic syndrome and even about 20% of children. At the other end of the spectrum, we worked with a client developing clinical trials for diabetic nephropathy. This is a rather serious condition affecting the kidneys by those suffering from type 1 and type 2 diabetes. According to the ​Mayo Clinic​, it is estimated that up to 25% of those suffering from diabetes will develop this condition.

While both of these kidney diseases are similar in that they lead to the loss of proteins through urine, they have very different audience sizes. Yet 83bar has pioneered a scalable four-step Patient Activation System that worked well for finding potential patients in both groups.

The Patient Activation System

  • To begin, we ​locate ​patients who may be a good fit for the clinical study. We do this by running targeted ads designed specifically to attract patients who match the ideal audience profile. We are able to hone this audience based on location, age, and a variety of other attributes.
  • Next, we ​evaluate ​patients by having them complete a brief screener quiz. This allows us to quickly pre-qualify patients based on a specific set of inclusion and exclusion criteria.
  • After that, we reach the ​activation ​phase in which a clinically trained patient educator reaches out (often in minutes) to further screen and educate patients.
  • We ​navigate​ patients through a series of touch points created specifically to keep patients engaged and interested. We leverage a variety of trigger-based automation as well as interactions from live agents.

The goal of this proven four-step process is to help locate patients who not only meet the right criteria but are also empowered through knowledge so they have the clarity on the next steps to move forward.

FSGS Strategy and Process

For our client conducting the FSGS clinical study, we started by running highly targeted digital ads created specifically to drive action. We ran these ads in a variety of cities throughout the U.S. to coincide with potential treatment locations for the clinical study.

Within just the four days of running a highly targeted ad campaign, we delivered:

  • 140 total leads
  • Leading to five qualified participants for this clinical study

What makes this particularly impressive is that finding clients for this clinical trial was something thought to be nearly impossible. This is a rare kidney disease to begin with combined with very specific inclusion criteria for the study.

Diabetic Nephropathy Strategy and Process

Similar to the FSGS study, we helped our client conduct diabetic nephropathy by conducting a strategic and targeted digital marketing campaign. We specifically looked for men and women between the ages of 18 – 75 with controlled type 2 diabetes and diabetic nephropathy.

The results of this four-day targeted marketing campaign were:

  • 352 total leads who completed a screening survey
  • 69 qualified leads
  • 36 of those leads had diabetic nephropathy (plus 94% of qualified T2D patients that have unconfirmed diabetic nephropathy are willing to be screened)

What we further learned was that the majority of the qualified respondents were located in the southern and northeastern regions of the United States and typically were females between the ages of 55 – 64 years of age.

Campaign Conclusions

Both of these campaigns were designed to be short (just four days), highly targeted, very engaging, and fully equipped to quickly pre-qualify patients at scale. We collected information from over 500 patients from these two campaigns combined using our proven patient activation model.

To see more detailed findings of these two campaigns, as well as an inside look at the targeted digital ads that brought in a significant number of qualified leads, we encourage you to download our complete [Kidney Disease Whitepaper].

Want to learn how 83bar can help you broaden your reach and find the right patients for your clinical study? Schedule a quick call with our team for more information. Contact us.