Oncology is largest clinical trial therapy area but has lowest enrolment rate in China, says GlobalData

Even though oncology was the largest therapy area for clinical trials in China in 20XX, it had the lowest overall enrolment rate at 3.7 subjects per site per month among the top five therapeutic areas, according to leading data and analytics company GlobalData.

The enrollment data criteria in the company’s database show that oncology accounted for 38% of the total trials between 1 January 2001 and 9 April 2018 in China. In comparison, infectious disease stood at second position with 12% of total trials, followed by cardiovascular, metabolic disorders and central nervous system.

However, infectious diseases had the highest overall enrolment rate at 30.4, as well as the highest Phase I and Phase III enrolment rate among the top five therapeutic areas.

The enrolment rate was consistently highest in Phase I trials across all five indications, which is unsurprising given the fact that these trials have the lowest number of subjects to recruit.

Brooke Wilson, Managing Clinical Trails Analyst at GlobalData, says: “Phase I trials often use healthy subjects, who are more readily available. Oncology trials can require an invasive procedure like a biopsy in order to determine eligibility, and individuals may be reluctant to go through that procedure if there is no guarantee they will be included in the study. Another issue that may account for the low enrollment rate may be intense competition for patients due to the high number of oncology trials in China.”