New technologies are upending the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors. Innovative technical advancements have the potential to significantly increase the efficiency and effectiveness of clinical trials on a variety of levels. Technology is allowing us to develop better treatments and interventions more frequently.
Clinical Trials and Technology: Overcoming the Challenges
Clinical trials face difficulties that can be overcome by technical innovation, yet the industry is hesitant to adopt new technologies. Medical trials have long made use of technology, and discussions over how to adopt new developments and how they affect trials have persisted for decades.
The availability of technology has increased recently, and usage restrictions have also been relaxed. An increase in the need for technological innovation brought on by worries about rising costs, higher failure rates, and the emergence of patient-centric trials has also fueled clinical trials. New technologies are being used in clinical trials in fields like wearable technology, big data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), synthetic biology, telemedicine, and mobile communication.
Clinical trials are becoming simpler because of technology. These activities enhance the patient experience in addition to attracting and keeping more patients, enhancing the patient experience, gathering more data, and offering remote patient monitoring. As the ground-breaking technologies quickly overcame the difficulties trials experience in the new normal brought about by COVID-19, it is also conceivable to decentralize trials and to take a more patient-centric approach.
Recruiting patients
Mobile communications made it simpler to enroll patients in clinical studies. If a reliable link is provided and the challenges of distance are surmounted, remote areas can access clinical trials. Additionally, CROs can use social media to increase outreach and recruitment to a variety of demographics, including traditionally underserved communities. Other technologies that can aid in recruiting include electronic data acquisition, electronic informed consent, and electronic clinical outcome assessment.
Data collection on patients
Mobile gadgets, smartphone apps, and wearable medical devices can all help with patient data collection. Patient data, which is the foundation of clinical trials and offers insight into future research directions and clinical results. Users can automate data monitoring with wearable technology, and central data hubs can collect large amounts of data that would be challenging to gather otherwise. Organizations can monitor data statistically and get information digitally from a variety of locations.
Clinical data should be improved, and patient engagement should be raised, to increase trial efficiency. Through data collection, smart sensors, virtual reality, and machine learning can also improve clinical trials.
Patient-centered strategy
Clinical trials have undergone a paradigm shift recently as the number of patient-centric trials has increased. Technology advancements have made a significant contribution to this transition toward a patient-centric strategy. Due to large expenditures in digital technology, patients are urged to take part in these trials.
Small trials are now feasible thanks to the change in trial design enabled by wearable and mHealth technologies. Mobile devices or apps that manage everything from enrollment through treatment administration and follow-up are given to participants by clinical researchers.
Monitoring Remotely
Following the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to prevent disease spread through social isolation, trials utilizing remote monitoring have drawn a lot of attention. Tools for remote site access and monitoring are being used by researchers more and more. Remote connections are possible between clinical research organizations, sponsors, and research locations. By utilizing remote monitoring, clinical trials can be made more affordable, effective, and less taxing for participants, and patient reactions and conditions can be thoroughly and meaningfully understood.
A decentralized approach to clinical trials
To perform decentralised clinical trials, normal trial guidelines must be modified. Through technology like telemedicine and mobile devices, these next-generation trials are accessible to both participants and locations. Because parts of the visits are carried out remotely from the participant’s home, the research is sometimes referred to as a hybrid one.
Decentralized trials carry concerns related to patient compliance and technology literacy. However, this kind of clinical research overcomes the logistical difficulties of shipping, transportation, and access to isolated people.
The Impact of Wearable Medical Technology
Future clinical trials have a great deal of potential thanks to telemedicine and wearable medical technology. Wearable technology is being more widely used in the healthcare field as a result of innovation and expansion, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, the technology has proven to be incredibly helpful for the continuation of crucial clinical trials.
Real-world data from patients must be collected and stored for clinical studies, and wearables and related technologies have proven essential in this endeavor. In order for wearable technology and data collecting to continue to have an impact on trials in the future, manufacturers and clinical research institutions must cooperate.
The Future
Clinical trials have advanced dramatically in recent years as a result of new and groundbreaking technologies, partly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused clinical trials to decentralise and include more remote components. Additionally, pharmaceutical companies are increasing their investments in big data analytics and artificial intelligence technologies, which are revolutionising R&D and cutting costs. New technologies must be embraced if clinical research is to advance.
(The author is Mr. Krutikesh Age, Co-founder, DPHS Pvt. Ltd. and the views expressed in this article are his own)
