Clinical standards have changed tremendously, seeing exponential growth in the number of clinical trials as well as in complexity. This increase in complexity incurs an increase in cost.

To put it another way, digitization and emerging technology provide us with an immense opportunity to be more effective while shortening timelines while ensuring that cutting-edge products meet our patients. This scenario can be best understood by COVID-19 clinical trials’ patient recruitment process. Trialbee helped match and enroll in 3 out of 4 top approved vaccine trials, where diversity and inclusion were key drivers in the matching process.

Additionally, in a technical environment or ecosystem, the patient is aware and desires a voice in the decisions. The patient's viewpoint and experience are central to the trial protocols and placed as one of the major factors in design.

Some of the trends in digital transformation in healthcare that favor this new environment and the correct development of clinical trials and medical research are:

  1. Personalized medicine based on the profile of each patient and for which Real World Data (RWD) is a fundamental source.
  2. The importance of Real World Data
  3. Treatment of patients with virtual reality.
  4. Availability of medical devices (wearables) that allow us to obtain real-time health data from the patient
  5. Health predictions, the consequence of data analysis
  6. Artificial intelligence as a tool for analysis and prediction
  7. Blockchain technology and the improvement in electronic health records

Clinical Trials represent a map of opportunities:

Data analysis and algorithms allow decisions to be made that help in the different phases of clinical trials.

  • They allow us to improve the design of the protocols based on Real World Data.
  • Optimize the monitoring of studies with technologies that allow risk analysis (Risk Based Monitoring)
  • Recruit patients online, through social networks, thus bringing clinical research closer to a larger population.
  • Collect their data, carry out tests remotely and have an automatic and continuous follow-up of some patients, thus greatly reducing the burden that a clinical trial can represent on sites.
  • Let's look at the three main phases of clinical trials and how the digital transformation in research fully impacts each of them.

Planning and study preparation phase:

Design of new studies such as:

  • Realistic guidelines using technology platforms to handle the e-records such that all patient information can be private at all times, and data integrity can be preserved.
  • Identification of hospitals in the study population by analyzing data from Electronic Health Records.
  • Use of Artificial Intelligence and Competitive Intelligence to improve the selection of sites, accessing performance metrics shared between the different companies.

Trialbee – the game-changer in patient recruitment

The company based in US & Sweden has innovated patient recruitment, matching, engagement, and retention with its dynamic solution. It brings a tech-enabled solution providing service for clinical trials apps, accelerating the whole recruitment process.

Digital patient matching and enrollment through Trialbee

Omnichannel recruitment:

Recruiting patients into a study is one of the most complex and generally time-consuming phases in the life cycle of a trial. In an environment increasingly dominated by apps, Trialbee offers us a great opportunity to bring CTs to more patients. Trialbee uses its smart patient matching engine called Trialbee Hive TM that overlays consumer markers on biomarkers in a secure environment within HIPAA guidelines. A significant reduction in recruitment time has been observed compared to traditional recruitment methods.

Virtual and hybrid clinical trials:

Rapid digitalization during the pandemic has expedited us to go from a traditional model in which the patient travels to the research center to a new model in which a virtual access environment is created from the research center to the patient. This shortens geographical distances and allows patients in rural or less accessible settings; lowering the entry barriers in non-invasive clinical trials.

In 2016, Sanofi participated in the Verkko study: a phase IV study in diabetes that was carried out completely remotely and made it possible to evaluate patient and clinician satisfaction with this type of approach.

Patient Centricity:

With Trialbee’s omnichannel approach, the patient at the heart of all clinical trial recruitment. Patient centricity can mean different things to different organizations, but to us, it’s about letting the patient voice drive how we think about the entire clinical trial process.

Disclaimer

This content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice or to take the place of medical advice or treatment from a personal physician. Readers of this content are advised to consult their doctors or qualified health professionals regarding specific health questions. Neither the author(s) nor the publisher of this content take responsibility for possible health consequences of any person or persons reading or following the information in this educational content. All readers of this content, especially those taking prescription or over-the-counter medications, should consult their physicians before beginning any nutrition, supplement, or lifestyle program.