In an effort to rein in the high cost of drug trials, developers are spending more money to speed the identification and enrollment of patients, according to a new report from Thompson CenterWatch. Patient recruitment spending has grown from $275 million in 2000 to $530 million in 2004. Much of that money is going to new campaigns on the Web and in mainstream media to appeal for volunteers. Some funds are being used on database analysis to ID the patients that would consider enrolling and the doctors who treat the patients they're looking for. About 30,000 of the 50,000 trials underway in the world are in the U.S. with only about five percent in emerging markets--despite a tremendous amount of hype about the role of India, China and others in the field.
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