bold conversations

Winning Enrollment in a Competitive CNS Trial Landscape

In crowded CNS indications, enrollment rarely slows for one reason. Protocol requirements, site capacity, participant logistics, recruitment execution, and timing all shape whether a study can maintain momentum.

This Bold Conversations roundtable brings together perspectives from sponsors, investigative sites, clinical operations, and patient recruitment to examine what competitive enrollment looks like when planning assumptions meet the realities of execution. From protocol screenability and site capacity to recruitment handoff and early enrollment signals, the discussion explores the decisions that can determine whether an enrollment strategy holds up once a study is underway.

Watch the full discussion on demand, or explore the companion report for expanded insights, supporting research, and practical application considerations.

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FIVE AREAS THAT SHAPE ENROLLMENT MOMENTUM

Explore five areas that can influence enrollment momentum and the questions worth examining before assumptions become execution challenges.

OPERATING CAPACITY

How to look beyond patient availability and evaluate the resources enrollment actually consumes.

How much usable capacity will actually be available during the enrollment window?

PROTOCOL EXECUTABILITY

How eligibility, assessments, visit cadence, and participant burden shape the realistic screening path.

Where could protocol requirements create more enrollment friction than the forecast assumes?

SITE FIT & PRIORITIZATION

How current capacity, study fit, and competing demands influence whether sites can truly lean in.

What makes a capable site the right site for this study, at this time?

RECRUITMENT ARCHITECTURE

How channel strategy, qualification, handoff, geography, and site capacity work together.

What happens after a prospective participant raises their hand?

EARLY SIGNALS & GOVERNANCE

How to identify where enrollment friction is occurring early enough to respond.

Which early signals will tell you where attention is needed most?

listen to the conversation

Watch the Competitive Enrollment Roundtable On Demand

In this Bold Conversations roundtable, panelists move beyond broad enrollment challenges to discuss the decisions that shape enrollment once a study enters a competitive CNS landscape.

The conversation explores how sites evaluate which studies they can realistically support, how sponsors can account for competition during planning, where protocol and recruitment decisions can create friction, and what teams should be watching as enrollment gets underway.

Designed for sponsors planning or managing CNS programs, the discussion offers practical perspectives on building realistic enrollment strategies, recognizing pressure points earlier, and making informed adjustments as conditions evolve.

TOPIC: Winning Enrollment in a Competitive CNS Trial Landscape
DURATION: 55 Minutes
AVAILABILITY: On-Demand
FORMAT: Expert Panel Discussion

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voices you'll want to hear from

Meet the Panelists

Carl Gommoll, MS

Vice President & Head of Clinical Operations, Acadia Pharmaceuticals

Carl Gommoll brings more than 30 years of pharmaceutical industry experience to his role overseeing global clinical trial operations at Acadia Pharmaceuticals. His background spans senior leadership positions at AbbVie and BioXcel Therapeutics, where he led late-stage CNS and psychiatric programs through regulatory approval. He brings a practical, operations-driven perspective to enrollment strategy and sponsor execution in competitive trial environments.

Nicole Alleyne, MS

Clinical Program Manager, Supernus Pharmaceuticals

Nicole Alleyne is a clinical researcher with more than 15 years of experience across the pharmaceutical industry, with recent focus on CNS and a lead role in Supernus Pharmaceuticals' major depressive disorder program. Her background spans site-based roles in academia and the private sector, as well as experience at the FDA. She holds master's degrees in Physiology and Biophysics and Systems Medicine from Georgetown University.

Lance Nickens

Founder and President, TPRA - The Patient Recruiting Agency™

Lance Nickens has spent nearly three decades in patient recruitment and retention, founding TPRA as a specialized division in the late 1990s and acquiring it in 2004 to build it into one of the industry's most respected global agencies. He is widely credited with helping shape the modern patient recruitment industry, pioneering approaches and technologies that have since become standard practice across clinical research globally.

Jessica Sletten, MBA

Founder and Chief Operating Officer, Charter Research

Jessica Sletten is a nationally renowned clinical trials executive with more than 20 years of experience in clinical research site operations and site network management. Prior to founding Charter Research, she served as VP of Clinical Operations at Bioclinica and oversaw clinical operations at Compass Research, where she implemented strategies that propelled the company to become the #1 enroller in the world in Alzheimer's disease research.

Jim Free (Host)

Executive Vice President, Site Solutions, Cognitive Research Corporation

Jim Free has more than 20 years of experience building study site networks for clinical programs requiring specialized patient populations, with a focus on CNS indications including agitation in dementia, anxiety disorders, and treatment-resistant depression. Throughout his career he has served as a C-level executive across 11 companies and has firsthand experience overseeing IND, NDA, and ANDA submissions through approval and commercial launch.

READY TO DIG DEEPER?

Take the conversation further with the full report.

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why it matters

Where Enrollment
Momentum Is Won or Lost

CNS trials today are competing for the same sites, the same patients, and the same recruitment channels at the same time. Many of the decisions that shape enrollment performance are made before the study launches, from protocol design and site selection to feasibility assumptions and recruitment strategy. By the time problems become visible in the enrollment curve, the options for course correction may already be narrower.

This roundtable brings together the people who see those decisions play out from every angle. What they share is directly applicable to how sponsors plan, execute, and adapt in competitive CNS programs.

You’ll gain perspective on:

Optimizing protocol and operational strategy for site-level realities
How sites prioritize studies when patient populations overlap
What teams often misjudge in competitive enrollment planning
Where recruitment efforts succeed or stall in saturated populations
How operational decisions shape enrollment momentum
What successful teams do differently in crowded CNS trials
What sponsors should be planning for as competition intensifies

take the conversation further

Download the Competitive Enrollment Roundtable Report

The Winning Enrollment in a Competitive CNS Trial Landscape Roundtable Report expands on the discussion with supporting research and practical considerations for sponsors planning in competitive CNS indications.

Inside the report, you’ll find:

Perspectives from across the enrollment landscape, bringing sponsor, site, CRO, and recruitment viewpoints into the same discussion
Supporting research and industry evidence that add context to the challenges raised by the panel
Practical application considerations for translating those insights into study planning and execution
Early enrollment patterns to watch, including examples of what different signals may indicate and where teams may need to look next

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Winning Enrollment in a Competitive CNS Trial Landscape