Clinical trials typically involve in-person visits to a study location such as a doctor's office, hospital or other research center. At these visits, the clinical trials staff evaluate the individual's health and progress on the clinical trial. This has been the typical process for participants, but like so many things today, it's changing. Virtual clinical trials use new communication tools, innovative technologies and remote healthcare to make participating in clinical trials possible from your own home, whenever it's convenient for you.
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A recently developed form of clinical trials is known as virtual clinical trials. They are based on the use of the latest communications technology to conduct a research study. These include electronic monitoring devices, smartphone applications and video conferencing, which can assist with evaluating research subjects remotely.
Virtual clinical trials are becoming much more common in the clinical research industry. They were developed to fill the gaps of traditional clinical trials. For instance, virtual clinical trials make the participation of research subjects more convenient as compared to traditional clinical trials. They save time and are cost-effective. Virtual clinical trials can also recruit participants more quickly, enhance retention, and boost participant diversity and engagement by utilizing digital health technology. Furthermore, virtual clinical trials overcome some important difficulties that traditional clinical studies encounter, such as the need to attend office visits during working hours.
Volunteers in traditional clinical trials are enrolled through hospital visits, medical clinics, or advertisements in newspapers, radio, and television. Furthermore, the target demographics are frequently constrained by location. The latest web-based technologies (e.g., Google search engine), social networking sites (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, LinkedIn) and digital patient recruitment services (e.g. ClinicalConnection.com) can quickly identify prospective volunteers that are diverse.
Certain clinical trials notification services such as ClinicalConnection.com allow interested individuals to create an account and be notified when a new virtual clinical trial is available that matches their interests.
Some clinical trials websites specialize in listing Virtual Clinical Trials including:
Research studies used to assess the effectiveness of therapeutic, surgical, or behavioral interventions are called clinical trials. They are the most preferred methods by which researchers determine if a new therapy, such as a new medication, diet, or medical device, is effective or not.
Clinical trials are an important part of the development of new pharmaceutical products and treatment methods because they provide scientific data on the safety and efficacy of new pharmaceutical substances or chemicals and help doctors make better decisions.
However, standard clinical studies are lengthy, costly, and sometimes do not provide adequate data to make a decision about a treatment due to difficulties in recruiting research subjects (patients). Clinical trials can also put a time and cost burden on research subjects due to the necessity to travel to trial locations, depending on the number of clinical visits necessary by the research design. Virtual clinical trials help eliminate some of those burdens of clinical trials participation.
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Virtual clinical trials take full advantage of the latest technologies and can change the way traditional clinical trials have been done. In addition, by using the latest technologies, virtual clinical trials provide benefits to the pharma industry and volunteers participating in the trials. Virtual clinical trials are also called decentralized trials, remote trials or online clinical trials.
The focus of virtual clinical trials is to use electronic devices, smartphone apps, videoconferencing to make participation more efficient for research subjects as well as the investigators running the trial. Benefits include:
Virtual clinical trials help address the difficulties that traditional clinical trials encounter, such as prolonged patient recruitment timelines and high costs due to the restricted pool of potential participants. Participants in traditional clinical trials are recruited through hospital visits, medical clinics, or advertisements in newspapers, radio, and television. Patients' geographic reach and capacity to engage are frequently restricted.
Virtual clinical trials use both digital and traditional volunteer recruitment methods. As a result of the mix of recruiting techniques, the registration objectives can be met more quickly, allowing the research to begin sooner. Patients are recruited directly via web-based platforms such as search engines, social media and patient databases. These methods provide for rapid volunteer recruitment with no geographic restrictions, allowing qualified trial participants from all around the world to participate.
Many volunteers or participants can easily participate in virtual clinical trials, as they are more easily accessible compared to the traditional (in-person) clinical trials.
Virtual clinical trials provide more benefit to the participants, as they are connected through their smartphone devices from their homes. There is no need to travel and much of the communication by the participant with the study coordinators can be done when convenient (e.g. after work hours). Remote participation also helps to encourage disabled and elderly participants to play their role in clinical studies. Remote participation also reduces the need for participants to take time off work to participate, making it more accessible to professionals.
Virtual clinical trials also help save time and save money, leading to reduced drug development costs and less costly medicines. In this regard it also benefits pharmaceutical companies, as pharmaceutical companies are the major investors in clinical trials. By adopting virtual clinical trials, the duration of each study is reduced, data is more rapidly collected and shortened enrollment periods lead to lower chances of participant dropout.
Virtual clinical trials have limitations and will likely never completely replace traditional, in-person clinical trials completely since some interventions require in person participation (e.g. surgeries, certain procedures). However, as technologies continued to be developed and the frontiers of medicine are extended, virtual clinical trials will continue to grow in popularity as well as complexity and impact.
The recent problems in clinical research are a clear turning moment, a chance to enhance clinical trials by adopting innovative technology and methodological methods. Virtual clinical trials have an overall positive influence on trial duration and related expenses, as well as patient recruitment, involvement, adherence, and data collection. As we move to the new normal of the post-COVID world, it is critical that we seize these possibilities for innovation and improvement of human health.
1. https://www.clinicalconnection.com/virtual-clinical-trials
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK548981/
3. https://www.bettertx.com/blog/the-future-of-clinical-trials-is-virtual
4. https://www.volitioncapital.com/news/virtual-clinical-trials-the-future-of-healthcare-research/
6. https://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/506418
7. https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/what-are-clinical-trials-and-studies