How to recruit prostate cancer patients for clinical trials

How many men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year?

The American Cancer Society estimates 333,830 new prostate cancer cases in the United States in 2026, the most of any single cancer site in its estimates (American Cancer Society 2026).

A simple ratio puts the competition in perspective. The American Cancer Society reports 333,830 new prostate cancer cases expected in 2026. Divided across 598 recruiting studies, that is roughly 558 people per study nationally, before eligibility criteria, geography, and patient willingness cut the pool down. Most of those patients will never hear about a trial unless a physician brings it up.

That ratio is higher than breast cancer (about 349 new patients per recruiting study) or lung cancer (about 262). Patient supply is less of a constraint in prostate cancer than reaching the physicians who hold those patients.

How many prostate cancer trials are recruiting in the United States right now?

As of October 6, 2026, ClinicalTrials.gov lists 598 prostate cancer studies with a status of recruiting and at least one location in the United States (ClinicalTrials.gov). Of those, 501 are interventional trials and 97 are observational studies. Industry is the lead sponsor on 168 of them, about 28%. Academic centers, cooperative groups, and government sponsors run the rest.

Interventional prostate cancer trials by phase:

The median interventional trial targets 90 participants in total across all of its sites. The typical industry funded trial lists 8 recruiting locations in the United States, so each site is usually expected to deliver a small slice of that total, and sponsors notice quickly which sites deliver none.

Where are prostate cancer trials concentrated?

Every location on every recruiting study counts here. Together the 598 studies list 6,864 recruiting US locations. These states host the most recruiting studies:

The most frequently listed institutions include Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, MD Anderson Cancer Center, and National Institutes of Health Clinical Center. The industry sponsors with the most recruiting prostate cancer trials right now include Novartis Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca, Janssen Research & Development,, Merck Sharp & Dohme, and Amgen. If your site sits in one of the top states, you are recruiting from the same patient population as several large academic programs at once, and the patients who reach you will mostly come through the physicians who already treat them.

Which physicians manage prostate cancer patients?

Unlike most cancers, many prostate cancer patients spend years under the care of a urologist before they ever see a medical oncologist. Active surveillance, localized disease, biochemical recurrence, and early hormone therapy are often handled in urology practices.

• Urologists, the largest referral source. The AAMC counts 10,910 active urologists in the United States (AAMC 2024 via Becker's).
• Medical oncologists, for metastatic and castration resistant disease.
• Radiation oncologists, for localized and recurrent disease studies.
• Primary care physicians, who order PSA tests and see early screening results.

What decides eligibility in prostate cancer trials?

Prostate cancer protocols typically turn on disease state (localized, biochemically recurrent, metastatic hormone sensitive, or castration resistant), PSA history, imaging findings, and prior hormone or chemotherapy. A urologist can answer most of those from the chart. Put the disease state first in your summary so the practice knows immediately which of its patients to think about. With an average screen failure rate of 36.3% across Phase 2 and 3 trials (Tufts CSDD), prescreening by disease state saves screening slots.

Why physician referral matters more than volume

A large patient population does not fill trials on its own. Physicians refer a median of about five patients into clinical trials per year, which is less than 0.2% of their annual patient volume (Getz, Applied Clinical Trials). In Tufts CSDD research, physicians and nurses named lack of access to study information and lack of time as the main reasons they do not refer, and physicians in clinical practice were 2.7 times more likely to refer than physicians in hospital settings (Tufts CSDD via Applied Clinical Trials).

That is the gap a site can close. The physicians who diagnose and manage your study population already know which patients are likely to qualify. They need a short, specific summary of your open study, a named coordinator, and a reason to believe the patient will come back to them.

A practical prostate cancer referral plan for your site

1. Pull the live ClinicalTrials.gov list for your state and note which competing studies are enrolling the same population within driving distance of your site.
2. List the urologists, medical oncologists, and radiation oncologists within a realistic drive of your site. Community practices come first.
3. Send each physician a one page study summary: the diagnosis, the two or three criteria that decide most eligibility, what the patient will experience, and the coordinator's direct line.
4. Follow up by email and LinkedIn, and call the practices that engage.
5. Report back to the referring physician on every patient, whether or not the patient enrolls.

See how to get physicians to refer patients and the referral letter guide for templates.