The most common inherited bleeding disorder is also the hardest to pre-screen. That is exactly what we do.

In an active Phase II VWD program, Leapcure engaged nearly 31,000 patients, triaged them to the 649 most likely to qualify, and handed sites only confirmed, interested, screen-ready candidates.

Talk to our VWD teamSee how it works →
484
VWD patients personally pre-screened
by our Patient Success team
52%
Of disqualified candidates did not actually have confirmed VWD
caught before sites saw them
25%
Of disinterested patients stalled on one fixable barrier
no recent VWD lab panel

Understanding Von Willebrand Disease as a Clinical Trial Indication

Von Willebrand disease (VWD) is the most common inherited bleeding disorder. It is caused by a missing or defective von Willebrand factor, the protein that helps platelets clot, and it spans several subtypes (Types 1, 2, 2B, and 3) that differ sharply in severity and in how they are diagnosed. VWD is estimated to affect up to about 1 percent of the population, though only a fraction, often cited around 1 in 1,000, carry symptoms significant enough to need clinical care (CDC). For a clinical trial, that gap between who carries the gene and who is truly eligible is the entire recruitment problem.

VWD is heavily underdiagnosed and, at the same time, heavily over-self-identified. Many people who carry a VWD label have never had it confirmed by current factor and bleeding-history criteria, and a large undiagnosed group, especially women with heavy menstrual bleeding, never reaches a hematologist at all. So a recruitment campaign that simply reaches people who say they have VWD delivers a population that mostly fails screening. In an active Phase II VWD program, more than half of even pre-screened candidates turned out not to have confirmed VWD. Pre-screening is not a nice-to-have here. It is the whole game.

The trial landscape sharpens the squeeze. As of June 2026, 16 interventional VWD trials are recruiting or about to open on ClinicalTrials.gov, spanning Types 1, 2, 2B, and 3, from sponsors including Vega Therapeutics, Hemab, Takeda, Roche, and Alnylam. Enrollments are small and subtype-specific, often 20 to 116 patients, and a women and heavy-menstrual-bleeding focus is a recurring theme, so multiple sponsors compete for the same scarce, scattered patients. Leapcure absorbs the heavy pre-screening burden this disorder creates: we engage patients at scale through the bleeding-disorder communities they trust, confirm diagnosis, factor activity, and bleeding history before referral, and hand sites only the candidates most likely to screen and enroll.

The Challenge

VWD recruitment fails on qualification, not on reach. The label is common and loosely applied, the eligibility criteria are technical, and the patients who do qualify stall on a small set of fixable, VWD-specific barriers. Volume alone makes the problem worse.

Most self-identified VWD is not confirmed VWD

VWD is over-self-identified. People carry the label from a family history or a past mention without ever meeting current factor and bleeding-history criteria. A campaign built on reach alone floods sites with candidates who fail screening, and nephrology and coordinator time is spent on people the protocol cannot use.

In an active Phase II VWD program, 52 percent of disqualified candidates did not actually have confirmed VWD. We caught that before sites saw them.

A single missing lab test stalls willing patients

Even patients who are interested and likely eligible stall on one VWD-specific barrier: they have no recent VWD panel and are unwilling to go retest. Standard recruitment treats this as a dead end and moves on, losing real candidates over a fixable logistics problem.

1 in 4 disinterested patients stalled on no recent VWD panel and an unwillingness to retest. Our human outreach is built to work through exactly that.

Eligibility is technical and subtype-specific

VWD protocols screen on confirmed diagnosis, von Willebrand factor and FVIII activity, annualized bleeding rate, subtype (Types 1, 2, 2B, 3), and exclusionary conditions and medications. Each criterion removes a slice of the apparent population, and most of that filtering has to happen before a patient ever reaches a site.

Beyond unconfirmed VWD, disqualifications included FVIII activity above 50 percent, an annualized bleeding rate below 12, and exclusionary conditions, all screened pre-referral.

The eligible population is scarce, scattered, and contested

16 interventional VWD trials are recruiting or about to open, with small, subtype-specific enrollments often between 20 and 116 patients. Multiple sponsors compete for the same scarce, scattered patients, and a women and heavy-menstrual-bleeding focus recurs across protocols. Reaching this population takes trusted community relationships, not broad advertising.

We engaged nearly 31,000 patients and triaged them to the 649 most likely to qualify, then pre-screened the most promising through real human conversations.

How Leapcure recruits for your VWD study

We reach VWD patients at scale through the bleeding-disorder communities they trust, absorb the heavy pre-screening burden the disorder creates, and hand your sites only confirmed, interested, screen-ready candidates.

1

Reach and triage the VWD population at scale

We engage patients through the bleeding-disorder advocacy communities they already trust, alongside precision digital mapped to your subtype and geography. In an active Phase II program that meant nearly 31,000 engagements triaged down to the 649 patients most likely to qualify, including the large undiagnosed group of women with heavy menstrual bleeding that generic outreach misses.

2

Pre-screen every candidate through real human conversations

Our Patient Success team personally pre-screens candidates before referral, confirming diagnosis, von Willebrand factor and FVIII activity, bleeding history, subtype, and exclusionary conditions and medications. This is where we absorb the confirmation burden: more than half of even pre-screened candidates turn out not to have confirmed VWD, and we filter them out before a site sees them.

3

Work through VWD-specific barriers and refer only screen-ready patients

When a willing patient stalls on a missing lab panel or an unwillingness to retest, our outreach is built to work through it rather than write the patient off. Sites conduct official screening and receive only confirmed, interested, screen-ready candidates, the ones most likely to screen and enroll, not raw leads that bury coordinators.

An active Phase II VWD program: nearly 31,000 engaged, triaged to 649 potentially eligible, and pre-screened down to the patients most likely to enroll.

Challenge Context

Program

An active, in-progress Phase II Von Willebrand disease program with confirmed-diagnosis, factor-activity, and bleeding-history eligibility

Sponsor

A VWD trial sponsor

Challenge

A common but loosely applied label where most self-identified patients are not confirmed, plus a large undiagnosed group of women with heavy menstrual bleeding who never reach a hematologist.

Status note

This program is active and ongoing, so the proof is the pre-screening engine, not a final enrollment tally. Figures reflect progress to date.

Results & Metrics

Reach and triage

30,988 digital campaign engagements triaged to 649 potentially viable patients, then 484 personally reached and pre-screened by our team.

Pre-screening quality

Among candidates who did not qualify, 52 percent did not actually have confirmed VWD, 16 percent had an exclusionary condition, 13 percent had FVIII activity above 50 percent, and 11 percent had an annualized bleeding rate below 12.

Working through declines

Of patients who declined, 25 percent stalled on a single fixable barrier: no recent VWD panel and an unwillingness to retest. Our outreach is built to work through exactly that.

Still open

165 potentially viable patients remain in the active pipeline, not yet reached. The funnel is the proof: reach plus triage plus human pre-screening, not a headcount.

Four channels. Built for Von Willebrand disease. Active before your trial opens.

Leapcure reaches VWD patients through the bleeding-disorder communities they trust, pre-screens every candidate through real human conversations, works through the VWD-specific barriers that stall standard recruitment, and makes your trial genuinely retrievable to the AI engines patients now use.

Channel 1: Bleeding-disorder advocacy network

  • •We engage patients through the bleeding-disorder organizations VWD patients and families actually trust, not list buys.
  • •Active VWD and bleeding-disorder partners include the VWD Connect Foundation and Haemophilia Foundation Australia.
  • •These communities also reach the large undiagnosed group of women with heavy menstrual bleeding, the population broad advertising misses entirely.

Channel 2: Human pre-screening that absorbs the confirmation burden

  • •Our Patient Success team personally pre-screens candidates before referral: confirmed diagnosis, von Willebrand factor and FVIII activity, bleeding history, subtype, and exclusionary conditions.
  • •In an active program, 484 patients were personally pre-screened, and more than half of disqualifications were patients who did not actually have confirmed VWD.
  • •Sites receive only confirmed, interested, screen-ready candidates, so coordinators are not buried in unqualified referrals.

Channel 3: Working through the VWD-specific lab barrier

  • •A quarter of disinterested patients stall on one barrier: no recent VWD panel and an unwillingness to retest.
  • •Standard recruitment treats that as a dead end. Our human outreach is built to work through it, recovering willing, likely-eligible patients others lose.
  • •This is the difference between reaching a patient and actually qualifying one.

Channel 4: Answer-engine and AI-search visibility

  • •Patients and families increasingly ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overview which trials they may qualify 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 bleeding-disorder advocacy partnerships and ClinicalTrials.gov presence are the structural advantage we bring to your trial.

Built on the bleeding-disorder communities VWD patients trust

Leapcure's VWD advocacy partnerships are active, named, and co-developed, not list purchases. They reach diagnosed patients and the large undiagnosed group, especially women with heavy menstrual bleeding, through sources these communities already rely on.

VWD Connect Foundation

Patient-led organization focused specifically on Von Willebrand disease and the families it affects

Haemophilia Foundation Australia

National bleeding-disorders organization extending trusted reach beyond the US

Living with Von Willebrand disease, or heavy bleeding no one has explained? A trial may be an option to explore.

If you have Von Willebrand disease, or you live with heavy menstrual bleeding or easy bruising and bleeding that has never been fully explained, a clinical trial may offer access to investigational treatments alongside your regular care, never instead of it. We will never pressure you. Leapcure's team answers your questions honestly, explains what a trial involves, and helps you understand whether confirming a VWD diagnosis is worth exploring, at your pace, whatever you decide.

Learn about VWD trials for you
Leapcure kangaroo mascot

VWD is the most common inherited bleeding disorder and the hardest to pre-screen, and that is exactly what Leapcure does. In an active Phase II program we engaged nearly 31,000 patients, triaged them to the 649 most likely to qualify, and personally pre-screened 484, filtering out the majority who did not have confirmed VWD before they ever reached a site. For your VWD study, we absorb that confirmation burden, work through the VWD-specific barriers that stall standard recruitment, and hand your sites only screen-ready candidates. We can mobilize quickly.

Talk to our VWD team