1716P - Addressing clinical trial disparities in Spain: A digital solution

Background

In Spain, many eligible patients do not participate in clinical trials (CT) due to the lack of reliable information about trial availability. Trialing, created in 2021, is an artificial intelligence-based CT search engine that enables oncologists to directly refer their patients to available trial sites.

Methods

We analyzed aggregate data in Trialing, including information from public registries of CT (clinicaltrials.gov, reec.aemps.es), public data from the Spanish Ministry of Health, and data from the Trialing platform itself.

Results

Of the 561 Spanish oncology centers, 23% (131) offer CT. Of these, 69% centers offer <20 CT (small), 21% between 21 and 75 CT (medium), 8% between 76 and 150 CT (large), and 2% >150 CT (giant). Through Trialing: (i) all large and giant centers receive referral requests, 75% of medium centers and 27% of small centers; (ii) oncologists from 55% of small centers, 80% of medium centers, 83% of large centers and 60% of giant centers request referrals. We found that only two of the 17 administrative regions in Spain account for more than 50% of available CT, while most communities have no more than 10% of the CT available in Spain. The pathology for which there are most CT is non-small cell lung cancer, followed by breast cancer and colorectal cancer (28%, 16% and 12% of the total number of clinical trials, respectively). More than 2,500 CT searches are performed each month on the Trialing platform, and the pathology for which most referrals are requested through Trialing is lung cancer, followed by breast and colorectal cancer.

Conclusions

Our findings show that the distribution of CT in Spain is highly concentrated, with only certain regions offering a significant number of trials. Trialing provides real-time information on CT availability, referral patterns, and potential solutions to increase patient access to CT and improve treatment equity. The acceptance of Trialing in the Spanish oncology community suggests that it can be replicated in other countries with similar challenges.

Clinical trial identification

Editorial acknowledgement

Legal entity responsible for the study

Trialing Health.

Funding

Trialing Health.

Disclosure

M. Hardy-Werbin, M. Szarfer Barenblit, E. Arriola: Financial Interests, Institutional, Stocks/Shares: Trialing Health. All other authors have declared no conflicts of interest.