20 ulcerative colitis patients enrolled, in active flare, across three continents, driven by international advocacy partnerships and precision digital that reaches patients searching for options mid-flare.

UC clinical trial recruitment built on advocacy. We deliver enrollment-ready patients in flare when your protocol needs them, reducing site burden.

Talk to our UC teamSee how it works →
~12 mo
Cut off the study timeline
60%+
Of enrollment driven by advocacy
25
International advocacy partnerships
<2%
Of industry benchmark cost per patient

Understanding Ulcerative Colitis as a Clinical Trial Indication

Ulcerative colitis trials are among the hardest to enroll in inflammatory bowel disease research, and the difficulty is structural. Many protocols require patients to be in active flare at the moment of screening: a state that is unpredictable, time-boxed, and impossible to schedule. By the time a conventional recruitment campaign identifies a patient, educates them, and routes them to a site, the flare window has often closed. Standard recruitment treats UC like a stable chronic condition. It is not.

Generic third-party campaigns do not solve this. UC patients make trial decisions through communities they already trust (patient-founded platforms, disease foundations, and peer support networks) and they need a recruitment partner who can move at the speed of a flare. Reaching them requires established advocacy relationships and a patient-support model that tracks timing, not just volume.

Leapcure recruits UC patients through the communities those patients trust, complemented by precision digital that reaches patients actively searching for options during a flare. In a completed ulcerative colitis program that required patients in active flare, Leapcure's advocacy-led channel mix enrolled 20 patients across Africa, Europe, and North America, cut roughly 12 months off the study timeline, and did so at under 2% of the sponsor-reported industry benchmark cost, with advocacy partnerships driving more than 60% of enrollment.

The Challenge: UC trial recruitment demands more than reach. It demands the right relationships at the right moment.

In-flare protocols can't be served by standard recruitment

Many UC trials require patients to be in active flare at screening, a window that is unpredictable and short. Conventional pipelines identify patients too slowly; by the time a referral reaches a site, the flare has often passed. Recruiting for flare requires being already embedded in the patient community and able to act on timing, not just generate leads.

In our completed in-flare UC program, Leapcure's Patient Success Team concierged referral timing so sites received patients who were in flare when it counted, enrolling 20 and cutting ~12 months off the timeline.

Complex eligibility creates screening failure before enrollment

UC eligibility is shaped by disease activity scoring (e.g. Mayo/endoscopic subscores), biopsy and endoscopy timing, prior biologic exposure, and current therapy. Most patients who express interest fail screening unless candidates are matched to the protocol before referral. Passing unqualified patients to sites wastes coordinator time and inflates screen-fail rates.

Leapcure assesses protocol eligibility, including flare status and treatment history, before any patient is referred. Sites receive candidates who are pre-assessed and educated on what participation involves.

Multi-country UC trials stall when site engagement is inconsistent

UC trials are typically multi-national, and site capacity, advocacy access, and referral patterns vary sharply between regions. When one country falls behind, the program slows; when several do, it is at risk. Most vendors can't hold engagement across geographies.

Leapcure delivered the full enrollment across Africa, Europe, and North America even after site engagement was reduced to 5 of the 8 countries originally in scope, re-balancing channels weekly per region.

Advocacy is the right strategy for UC, but execution requires real relationships

Sponsors running UC studies already know advocacy outperforms generic digital. The challenge is finding a partner with established, trusted relationships in the UC community, not vendors who buy list access or run one-off email blasts. Trusted communities are also the fastest way to reach patients during a flare.

Leapcure's UC advocacy network spans 25 international partnerships, including iHaveUC, the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation, Rare Diseases South Africa, and Ben's Friends, which together drove more than 60% of enrollment.

Three Channels. One Advocacy-Led Strategy Built for UC Flare Timing.

Every UC study is different. Leapcure deploys the right mix of international advocacy, precision digital, and a flare-aware patient-support model, mapped to your protocol, your sites, your geographies, and your timeline.

1

Activate international advocacy and precision digital for your UC protocol

Leapcure activates advocacy community outreach (25 international partnerships including iHaveUC, Crohn's & Colitis Foundation, Rare Diseases South Africa, and Ben's Friends), precision digital campaigns that reach patients actively searching for options during a flare (search, Reddit, UC-community groups, mapped to geography and site proximity), and a patient-support model that keeps referred patients engaged through enrollment. Channel mix is adapted to the protocol, site locations, and eligibility criteria of each program.

2

Concierge patients through flare-timed pre-screening across regions

Every patient is engaged by Leapcure's Patient Success Team before site assignment. We assess protocol eligibility, account for UC-specific criteria including flare status and disease activity scoring, and, critically, time the referral so patients reach the site within the flare window the protocol requires. Sites conduct official screening; Leapcure ensures the patients who arrive are informed, prepared, and in the right clinical state.

3

Optimize in real time based on site engagement

Channel performance and site contact rates are tracked continuously across regions. Advocacy, digital, and patient-support contributions are rebalanced weekly based on referral quality, site intake capacity, and flare-window timing. In the completed in-flare UC program, this approach delivered the full enrollment even as the active footprint narrowed to 5 of 8 in-scope countries.

Ulcerative Colitis Recruitment, Completed. 20 Patients Enrolled In Active Flare, ~12 Months Saved.

Challenge Context

Indication

Ulcerative colitis (in-flare protocol), Phase 2/3

Sites

Active sites across Africa, Europe, and North America

Challenge

Protocol required patients in active flare, an unpredictable, time-boxed window standard recruitment cannot serve. Complex eligibility (disease activity scoring, endoscopy/biopsy timing, prior biologic exposure); multi-country coordination; advocacy access required to reach patients fast enough to catch flare.

Channels deployed

25 international advocacy partnerships activated (anchors: iHaveUC, Crohn's & Colitis Foundation, Rare Diseases South Africa, Ben's Friends); precision digital reaching patients searching for options mid-flare; Patient Success Team concierge timing referrals to flare windows; coordinated across regions.

Results & Metrics

Patients enrolled

20 UC patients enrolled in active flare, across Africa, Europe, and North America.

Timeline impact

Roughly 12 months cut off the study timeline.

Advocacy contribution

25 international advocacy partnerships drove more than 60% of total enrollment, the primary enrollment engine.

Flare management

Patient Success Team concierge ensured sites received patients who were in flare when it counted, the timing standard recruitment can't hit.

Cost efficiency

$2M+ in savings vs. sponsor-reported industry benchmarks across patient advocacy, digital ads, and physician referral, under 2% of benchmark cost, roughly <$2k per patient vs. >$138k. Note: acquisition cost varies by protocol, phase, site selection, and channel mix; this reflects this program, not a standard rate.

Delivery under constraint

Full enrollment delivered even after site engagement was reduced to 5 of the 8 countries originally in scope.

Sponsor attribution

Leading IBD/Immunology Sponsor, in-flare UC program

Four Channels. Built for UC. Active Before Your Trial Opens.

Leapcure reaches UC patients through international advocacy outreach, precision digital, a flare-aware patient-support model, and a fourth channel competing vendors do not offer: AEO and AI-search visibility delivered to your trial.

Channel 1: International UC Advocacy Network

  • •25 international advocacy partnerships including iHaveUC, Crohn's & Colitis Foundation, Rare Diseases South Africa, and Ben's Friends, plus community networks competitors don't have on their radar.
  • •Content co-developed with advocacy partners so research reaches patients as a trusted option, not an unsolicited pitch, the fastest path to patients during a flare.
  • •Advocacy drove more than 60% of enrollment on our last UC program and spans Africa, Europe, and North America.

Channel 2: Precision Digital Campaigns

  • •Search, Reddit, and UC-community groups, optimized to reach patients actively searching for options while in flare, targeted by geography, disease state, and site proximity.
  • •Digital is mapped to site capacity in real time so sites aren't overwhelmed and patient quality holds.
  • •Digital is the complement to advocacy for UC, not the primary channel. It catches patients in the flare moment that advocacy hasn't already reached.

Channel 3: Flare-Aware Patient Support Model

  • •Every referred patient receives step-by-step guidance from first contact through enrollment, with referral timing concierged to the flare window the protocol requires.
  • •Caregivers and family are included where relevant; UC participation decisions often involve a support network.
  • •This is the mechanism behind delivering enrollment-ready, in-flare patients, not referrals that create site coordinator work.

Channel 4: AEO and AI-Search Visibility for Your Trial

  • •Patients increasingly discover trials by asking ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overview 'what UC trials am I eligible for?' Most recruitment vendors do not structure for this.
  • •We make your trial's information genuinely retrievable: raw-HTML rendered, factually rich with unique first-party data, and present in the trusted sources AI engines pull from (advocacy orgs, ClinicalTrials.gov). This is real AEO, not schema tricks or AI-specific markup.
  • •As AI search grows as a patient discovery path, this channel compounds over the life of your study, a capability competing vendors do not currently offer.

Living with ulcerative colitis? A clinical trial may be an option.

If you're living with ulcerative colitis, a clinical trial may give you access to investigational treatments not yet widely available. We know that managing flares, appointments, and the daily reality of UC can be exhausting, and that timing matters. Leapcure's team provides step-by-step support, and we include your family or caregivers in the process wherever that's helpful.

See if a UC trial may be right for you
Leapcure kangaroo mascot

Leapcure's UC recruitment team has completed an in-flare ulcerative colitis program, enrolling 20 patients in active flare across three continents, cutting roughly 12 months off the timeline, at under 2% of the industry benchmark cost. We deploy international advocacy, precision digital, flare-aware patient support, and AEO / AI-search channels adapted to your protocol, and we can mobilize within 48 hours of program launch.

Talk to our UC team