Enrollment rate is one of the most consequential performance metrics in clinical operations, with delays in patient recruitment consistently cited as the leading cause of trial timeline overruns. Low enrollment rates lead to extended development timelines, increased costs, and delayed patient access to novel therapies.
The 2026 Patient Recruitment Roundup presents a comprehensive analysis of clinical trial recruitment rates across 19,880 industry-sponsored, Phase I–IV drug interventional trials completed between 2022 and 2025, excluding COVID-19 trials (data cutoff Sept. 1, 2026). The median enrollment rate (MER), measured as patients enrolled per site per month, serves as the primary benchmark for recruitment performance, stratified by phase, therapeutic area, geography, and drug modality.
