The LOIS ICD Clinical Trial

LOIS Medical Ltd needed to find 20 patients willing to test their new cardiology wearable device, whilst they were being put into cardiac arrest and defibrillated.

The problem

The LOIS ICD clinical trial were recruiting 20 patients to investigate whether their new cardiology medical wearable can detect the lifesaving shock of an implanted defibrillator. LOIS had only recruited 1 participant after 4 months and needed to significantly speed up recruitment.

As always there were significant barriers to recruitment that needed to be overcome. The basis for trial was to prove the device works and had no examination of clinical benefits. This meant that the motivation for participation could only be altruistic. This became a harder proposition still, when we learned that participants were only enrolled into the clinical trial for the duration of their surgery. For the patient, the procedure is critical and feels as risky as it gets and as a result, any non-essential distractions are often immediately dismissed making recruitment extremely challenging.

The solution

Successful and timely recruitment hinged on:

• A clear communication of the study requirements, to illustrate how ‘safe’ and non-invasive participation was
• An improved microsite about the investigational product to bring credibility to the trial sponsor and the trial itself
• A clean creative that resonated with the eligible patient demographic
• Clear and creative copy to communicate the need for this research

The impact

All 20 patients have since been recruited by the LOIS team at the Imperial College University Hospital, London. 10 of whom have undertaken the procedure and 10 of whom are scheduled for the next few months.