Myasthenia Gravis Patient Recruitment Campaign Enrolls Six Clinical Trial Patients in One Quarter

Client Challenge

A biotechnology company developing therapies for autoimmune diseases was conducting an ongoing clinical trial in myasthenia gravis, a rare neuromuscular autoimmune condition. Although they already had patients enrolled in the trial, they sought a supplemental approach to identify and engage additional potentially eligible participants within a limited timeframe.

Recruitment was challenging because the trial targeted a rare disease population, requiring the identification of an extremely hard-to-find group of patients within reach of participating research sites, patient education around a complex study, and helping interested individuals navigate through prescreening and potential site referral.

The trial sponsor already had an established contract research organization and had activated trial sites. It needed a supplemental recruitment approach that could launch quickly, integrate with existing processes, focus outreach on individuals most likely to meet key eligibility criteria, and minimize additional screening burden on study sites. The approach also needed to collect direct patient insights so that recruitment materials could be designed to be clear and relevant for individuals considering participation.

The biotech selected Alira Health due to the company’s ability to reach out directly to its MG Patient Panel (a proprietary list of over 4,000 patients who self-reported a myasthenia gravis diagnosis) and ability to offer a tailored and flexible approach to recruitment.

Our Approach

The Alira Health team proposed a series of outreaches, including mobile phone notifications and emails that would be sent to the members of the Myasthenia Gravis Patient Panel to invite them to learn more about the client’s trial.

Compared with in-person community outreach or broad-based paid marketing campaigns, direct outreach to the existing Patient Panel provided a highly targeted method to reach potentially eligible patients within the required timeframe.

Alira Health developed the outreach campaign in collaboration with its Myasthenia Gravis Patient Committee, a small group of patient experts living with the condition who serve as independent consultants on research projects. The team co-created campaign messaging based on the trial protocol, then worked with the client to finalize the copy.

Emails and push notifications were sent to more than 4,000 members of Alira Health’s Myasthenia Gravis Patient Panel, directing interested patients to the trial landing page.

Patients who passed step one of pre-screening on the landing page then connected with a specialist to conduct further pre-screening, explain the trial in more detail, and confirm that the patient had true interest in enrolling and staying in the trial before referring the patient to a trial site.

Throughout the campaign, the Alira Health team responded to patient questions and technical issues, reported weekly on campaign performance, and worked with the client to assess how many patients who completed prescreening were ultimately recruited into the study.

Outcomes

The biotech client enrolled six new patients into the trial in just one quarter. The thousands of patients who received the communications are now aware of both the clinical trial and the potential upcoming new therapeutic option and may be more responsive to future outreach from the sponsor. 

Alira Health’s client was pleased with the results and expanded the scope of the collaboration to add two additional outreach campaigns based on the strong initial outcome.

Key Success Factors

Alira Health’s established access to the myasthenia gravis community was key to the success of this project, combining an established Myasthenia Gravis Patient Panel with direct insights from its Myasthenia Gravis Patient Committee. Together, these resources enabled rapid, targeted outreach, and patient-informed messaging tailored to individuals considering trial participation.

Underpinning both was Alira Health’s broad expertise in myasthenia gravis across clinical development, real-world evidence, patient engagement, and patient recruitment. This combination of disease knowledge, established patient relationships, and recruitment capabilities enabled the team to rapidly design and execute an approach that smoothly integrated with the client’s ongoing clinical trial.