Experienced in kidney disease recruitment, built for end-stage families. We reach patients through the communities they trust, and our sensitive Patient Success Team supports every patient and family through a heavy decision.

Leapcure is experienced at engaging kidney disease communities and families. For end-stage trials, our sensitive Patient Success Team supports patients and families even more closely, and delivers enrollment-ready patients to your sites, not referrals that create coordinator work.

Talk to our kidney trials teamSee how it works →
5,469
Patients referred
on our DKD trial
35
Patients enrolled
on our DKD trial
96%
Lower cost per enrolled patient
vs industry, on a Phase III rescue
30+
Kidney and dialysis advocacy partnerships
active and named, not list buys

Understanding End-Stage Kidney Disease as a Clinical Trial Indication

End-stage kidney disease (ESKD), also called end-stage renal disease (ESRD) or kidney failure, is the final stage of chronic kidney disease, when kidney function declines to the point that a patient needs dialysis or a transplant to survive. More than 808,000 people in the US live with ESKD, about 68 percent on dialysis and 32 percent with a transplant, and roughly 90,000 are on the kidney transplant waiting list (NIDDK, citing USRDS 2023 Annual Data Report; OPTN, 2024). For these patients, daily life is organized around dialysis schedules, transplant-waitlist status, and the physical and cognitive burden of late-stage disease.

Kidney failure does not fall evenly. Per the USRDS 2023 Annual Data Report (2021 data), ESRD incidence among Black Americans was 3.8 times that of White Americans, 2.3 times among Native Americans, and roughly twice among Hispanic Americans. That makes representation in end-stage kidney trials a genuine equity and label-breadth issue: the communities the disease hits hardest are the ones generic recruitment most often misses. For sponsors, end-stage trials also carry complex eligibility, including eGFR and UACR thresholds and dialysis or transplant status, and every enrollment decision is heavy, made by patients and the families around them.

Leapcure engages kidney patients across every stage of kidney disease, from earlier-stage CKD through dialysis and transplant, reaching them and their families through the communities they already trust. We have proven this twice: on a Phase III kidney-disease rescue, where we reached 3,250 kidney patients and ran at 96 percent below the industry cost per enrolled patient, and on a completed 2021 diabetic kidney disease trial, where we referred 5,469 patients through eGFR and UACR eligibility and enrolled 35. For end-stage trials, our experienced Patient Success Team supports each patient and family with particular sensitivity, around dialysis and transplant realities, and our advocacy-led model is built to reach the Black, Hispanic, and Native American communities kidney failure hits hardest.

The Challenge

End-stage kidney recruitment is heavy and complex. Decisions carry real emotional weight, eligibility is technical, life is organized around dialysis and the transplant list, and the disease falls hardest on communities trials most often miss.

End-stage decisions are heavy, and rarely made alone

Patients on dialysis or awaiting transplant are carrying a serious diagnosis, and a trial decision sits with them and the family around them. Pressure and urgency are the wrong tools. These patients need honest framing of what a trial is and is not, and an experienced team that supports the people around the patient, not only the patient.

Our Patient Success Team is trained for sensitive, late-stage conversations, with no pressure and no urgency, and families included by default.

Kidney failure falls hardest on communities trials miss

ESRD incidence is 3.8 times higher among Black Americans, 2.3 times among Native Americans, and roughly twice among Hispanic Americans than among White Americans (USRDS 2023 ADR). When trials underrepresent these communities, both equity and label breadth are at risk. Closing that gap takes a model built to reach them, not generic outreach.

Our advocacy-led model is built to reach the Black, Hispanic, and Native American communities kidney failure hits hardest.

End-stage eligibility is technical and narrow

End-stage protocols screen on eGFR and UACR thresholds, dialysis or transplant status, and comorbidities like diabetes that overlap the path to kidney failure. Generic campaigns surface patients who then fail eligibility, spending nephrology and coordinator time on people the protocol cannot use.

On a completed DKD trial we referred 5,469 patients through eGFR and UACR eligibility, scored with qualitative and quantitative quality insights.

Referral volume is not enrollment-ready patients

A flood of unqualified referrals buries coordinators and inflates screen fails, and dialysis schedules make every site interaction harder to coordinate. The patients who arrive need to be pre-screened, educated, and prepared, and supported around their dialysis and transplant realities, before a site ever sees them.

We pre-screen and educate before site referral, so coordinators are not buried in unqualified leads.

How Leapcure recruits for your end-stage kidney study

We reach kidney patients through the communities they trust, pre-screen for complex end-stage eligibility, and support each patient and family around dialysis and transplant realities through enrollment.

1

Activate the kidney and dialysis communities patients trust

We engage 30+ active kidney advocacy partnerships, including the dialysis and kidney-failure networks end-stage patients rely on, alongside precision digital mapped to your eligibility and geographies. Our advocacy-led model is built to reach the Black, Hispanic, and Native American communities kidney failure hits hardest.

2

Pre-screen for complex end-stage eligibility

Every patient is engaged before referral. We assess eGFR and UACR criteria, dialysis or transplant status, and relevant comorbidities, and we educate patients on what a trial involves. Sites conduct official screening. We make sure the patients who arrive are informed, eligible, and prepared, not referrals that create coordinator work.

3

Support patients and families through enrollment

An experienced, dedicated Patient Success Team guides every referred patient from first contact through enrollment, around dialysis schedules, transplant-waitlist status, and the physical and cognitive burden of late-stage disease. Families and caregivers are included by default, because end-stage decisions are rarely made alone.

Proven twice across kidney disease: a Phase III rescue at 96% below industry cost, and a completed DKD trial that referred 5,469 patients.

Challenge Context

Programs

A Phase III kidney-disease rescue (US) and a completed 2021 diabetic kidney disease (DKD) trial with eGFR and UACR eligibility

Sponsors

Leading kidney-disease sponsors

Challenge

Stalled enrollment on a late-stage rescue, and complex kidney eligibility in a diabetes-comorbid population that overlaps the path to kidney failure.

Cost note

Per-patient cost figures vary by protocol, phase, site, and channel mix. They are shown here as efficiency evidence, not a rate card.

Results & Metrics

Phase III Rescue: Reach and Referrals

3,250 kidney patients reached and 302 referrals delivered, at a 16-to-1 referred-to-randomized ratio, on a five-month rescue.

Phase III Rescue: Cost Efficiency

Cost per randomized patient of 1,900 dollars versus a 46,060 dollar industry benchmark, a 96 percent reduction, and 600,000 dollars saved.

DKD Trial: Full Funnel

5,469 patients referred through our process and scored for quality, 570 assigned to sites for eligibility confirmation, 61 screened, and 35 enrolled.

Why it transfers to ESKD

Together these programs show we engage kidney patients and run efficiently across kidney disease, and that we handle complex eligibility like eGFR and UACR. The Patient Success Team is what tailors this to end-stage, sensitively.

Four channels. Built for end-stage kidney disease. Active before your trial opens.

Leapcure reaches kidney patients through 30+ trusted kidney and dialysis communities, an experienced and sensitive Patient Success Team, a model built for representation, and answer-engine visibility delivered to your trial.

Channel 1: Kidney and dialysis advocacy network

  • •30+ active, named kidney advocacy partnerships, including the dialysis and kidney-failure networks end-stage patients rely on.
  • •Dialysis and ESKD-relevant anchors include the National Kidney Foundation, the American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP), Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC), KidneyBuzz, KidneyWorks, and LIFE with Chronic Kidney Disease.
  • •These are active partnerships, not list purchases, and content is co-developed so research reaches patients through sources they already trust.

Channel 2: Experienced, sensitive Patient Success Team

  • •A dedicated team guides every referred patient from first contact through enrollment, around dialysis schedules and transplant-waitlist status.
  • •Families and caregivers are included by default, because end-stage decisions are rarely made alone.
  • •The team is trained for sensitive, late-stage conversations: no pressure, no urgency, and honest framing of what a trial is and is not.

Channel 3: Representation reach

  • •Kidney failure falls hardest on Black, Hispanic, and Native American communities, where trial representation and label breadth are most at risk.
  • •Our advocacy-led, multilingual, community-based model is built to reach the populations end-stage trials most often miss.
  • •This is stated as a capability backed by epidemiology, and we tailor it with trial-matched data when a study provides it.

Channel 4: Answer-engine and AI-search visibility

  • •Kidney patients increasingly ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overview which trials they may be eligible for. We make your trial's information genuinely retrievable for those engines.
  • •We do this with crawlable, factually rich content, cited sources, and presence in the advocacy and community sources AI engines actually cite, not schema tricks or content written for machines.
  • •Because AI engines cite trusted third-party sources more often than any single brand domain, our 30+ kidney advocacy partnerships and ClinicalTrials.gov presence are the structural advantage we bring to your trial.

Built on the kidney and dialysis communities end-stage patients trust

Leapcure's kidney advocacy partnerships are active, named, and co-developed, not list purchases. 30+ participating groups span national kidney organizations and the dialysis and kidney-failure networks that reach exactly the end-stage population.

National Kidney Foundation

Leading US kidney-health organization with broad reach across the kidney-disease community

American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP)

National patient organization that skews dialysis and kidney-failure, the ESKD population

Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC)

Patient-led advocacy organization focused specifically on dialysis patients

KidneyBuzz

Trusted dialysis and kidney-failure community and information source for patients and families

KidneyWorks

Kidney-patient support organization extending reach into the kidney-disease community

LIFE with Chronic Kidney Disease

Community and education resource for people living across the stages of kidney disease

Living with kidney failure, on dialysis, or awaiting a transplant? A trial may be an option to explore.

If you are living with end-stage kidney disease, on dialysis, or waiting for a transplant, a clinical trial may offer access to investigational treatments alongside your nephrology and dialysis care, never instead of it. We know this is a heavy decision, and we will never pressure you. Leapcure's experienced team answers your questions honestly, explains what a trial involves, and supports you and your family at your pace, whatever you decide.

Learn about kidney trials for you and your family
Leapcure kangaroo mascot

Leapcure engages kidney patients across every stage of kidney disease, proven on a Phase III rescue at 96 percent below industry cost and a completed DKD trial that referred 5,469 patients. For your end-stage trial, our experienced Patient Success Team supports patients and families through a heavy decision with real sensitivity, we reach the communities kidney failure hits hardest, and we deliver enrollment-ready patients to your sites. We can mobilize quickly.

Talk to our kidney trials team