Behind on enrollment? Let's catch up, without replacing how your study runs.
Many studies launch with strong enrollment projections, then stall once the early referrals run dry. For an under-enrolled study, TrialFill adds the one thing that's missing: compliant Facebook and Instagram advertising that drives pre-screened inquiries straight to your screener, without changing anything else about how the study runs.
Clinical trial rescue for enrollment, often called enrollment rescue, is targeted recruitment support for a study that has fallen behind its enrollment goal. It adds compliant digital advertising to reach new potential participants in your area. Your protocol, study operations, screener, and existing recruitment channels stay exactly as they are.
A rescue study is a clinical trial that has gone off track badly enough that the sponsor brings in a new team to save it. Usually that means moving the trial to a different contract research organization (CRO), often called a rescue CRO, which takes over from the original vendor partway through.
Rescue trials are taken on for a range of reasons: data quality or monitoring problems, missed milestones, regulatory or protocol-compliance findings, a vendor relationship that has broken down, or sites that are underperforming. A rescue CRO typically reviews the study, transitions data and documents from the previous vendor, re-trains or replaces sites, and builds a recovery plan.
Slow enrollment is one of the most common reasons a study ends up in rescue, and often the only real problem. When the protocol, the sites, and the data are sound and the study simply is not finding enough participants, replacing the CRO is a large, slow, and expensive fix for a recruitment gap. That is the part TrialFill handles: enrollment rescue, which adds a steady flow of pre-screened inquiries without changing how the study is run. The comparison further down this page shows how to tell which situation you are in.
Enrollment rarely stalls because of the science. It stalls because not enough of the right people know the study exists, and the numbers say that is the normal case. These are the moments teams reach out. To check whether your current pace will get you there, run your numbers through the recruitment rate calculator.
The study launched on schedule, but actual enrollment is tracking well below the original timeline and the gap is widening each month.
A funding milestone, sponsor checkpoint, or study close date is coming up, and the current participant flow will not get you there in time.
Flyers, the existing patient database, and referrals have been worked through. You need to reach potentially eligible people beyond your current channels.
The participants in your immediate area are tapped out, and you need to extend awareness across a wider radius around your site.
No long ramp-up. Once your approved study materials are in hand, the goal is to get pre-screened inquiries flowing to your screener quickly.
We build recruitment creative from your IRB-approved study materials and prepare compliant Facebook and Instagram campaigns, ready for your institution's review.
Campaigns go live to the right audience by location, age, and approved criteria, expanding awareness well beyond flyers and existing databases.
Interested people are driven straight to your existing screener or interest form. Your team follows up and screens, exactly as you do today.
In clinical research, a rescue study usually means a trial in serious operational trouble that a specialist CRO takes over. That is a different problem, and a different price, from a study where the science and the site are sound and enrollment is simply behind. Here is how to tell which one you have.
A rescue CRO replaces how the study is run. It is the right call when the problems go beyond recruitment.
Enrollment rescue adds one thing the study is missing: a steady flow of pre-screened inquiries. Nothing else changes.
In clinical research, a rescue study is a trial in serious trouble that a specialist contract research organization takes over: operations, data management, vendor transitions, and regulatory cleanup. Many studies labeled as needing rescue don't have those problems. The science and the site are fine. Enrollment is simply behind.
Watch the trend, not a single month. Signs include enrollment tracking below plan for two or more months in a row, a projection that shows the goal will not be met by the deadline, referral sources that have dried up, or a sponsor or funder milestone at risk. Use a recruitment rate calculator to compare the pace you need against the pace you have. If the gap is recruitment rather than operations, enrollment rescue is usually the faster fix.
A full rescue CRO engagement is priced like a CRO contract because it takes over operations. Enrollment rescue from TrialFill is priced per study and agreed before work starts, with advertising spend paid directly to Meta at cost and never marked up. Days when ads are paused do not count toward the engagement.
Often, yes. Campaigns can be built from recruitment materials the IRB has already approved, which is the fastest route. If new ad wording, images, or a landing page are needed, they go to the IRB for review first, and TrialFill prepares them in a submission-ready format.
A rescue CRO replaces how the study is run. Enrollment rescue adds one thing the study is missing: a steady flow of pre-screened inquiries, delivered through compliant Facebook and Instagram advertising to the screener you already use. Nothing else about the study changes, and the cost is a per-study price agreed up front rather than a CRO contract. See exactly what's included.
Creative is built from the recruitment materials your IRB has already approved, so it's usually ready for review within a few business days. Once your institution signs off, campaigns go live within days. If new materials need IRB review, TrialFill prepares the packet so it moves through quickly. How the review process works.
The participants you need are often already out there. They simply don't know your study exists yet. Closing that gap, quickly and compliantly, is the entire job.
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