10 Ways in which Technology is Driving Better Efficiency in Clinical Trials

Advanced Technologies Assisting in Conducting Clinical Trials

Technologies that are driving digitization in clinical trials

Transforming Clinical Trials with the Help of Technology 

New technological innovations are improving the efficiency and productivity of clinical trials using novel outcomes, increasing patient engagement, and reducing patient burden​

Device connectivity and ultra-lowcost IoT

• Connected devices are helping overcome the misinterpretation of data when it comes to the impact of drug dose-related side effects, outcomes, and the patient’s general well-being
• Ultra-low-cost connectivity components, coupled with direct-to-cloud technologies, such as NB-IoT/LTE-M, are fueling the transformation toward fully connected and digitized clinical trials
• Novartis, with the introduction of the connected BreezHaler, closely monitor patients’ drug intake during clinical trials

Blockchain

• Blockchain-based solutions are providing more efficient ways of handling the early stages of clinical trials, particularly in relation to recruitment
• As blockchain provides a controlled way of accessing proof of the existence of an entity, it is being used for monitoring the existence of consent
• These solutions are assisting researchers, sponsors, and regulators in better coordinating the need for re-permission for each batch of patient data corresponding to a particular version of a trial protocol by exchanging consent information and managing it

Sensing Technologies

• Advanced sensors are becoming smaller, simpler to incorporate, and more useful without interfering with a patient's normal activities that are eventually taking the position of manual inspections and evaluations
• The development of new materials is also helping to advance the field of sensing technologies, a Korean team created prototype contact lenses that assess blood glucose levels and intraocular pressure using graphene and metal nanowires
• Contactless sensing is playing a key role in how data is collected, with the use of Near-Field Coherent Sensing (NCS) – it is possible to avoid skin contact

Mobile Technologies

• Mobile technology is enabling the collection of real-time data regarding activity or movements that may not be detectable at the same frequency using other equipment, such as an accelerometer worn on a limb, waist, or put on the wheelchair, or a sensor built-in a smartphone or gaming cell
• Continuous measurement enables early illness progression detection, when treatments may be more potent
• This might make it possible to evaluate the success of drug development programs and boost the effectiveness of the trial design

Patient recruitment through AI

• The use of AI technology is helping in identifying populations that are suitable for clinical trials by sorting through vast volumes of medical records also additionally, it is evaluating social media posts to pinpoint places where an illness is more common, focusing the search for the suitable cohort
• The TDA offers patterns of clinical traits and illness comorbidities, which gave insights into how particular patients will react to treatment or in a clinical study
• Three subgroups of type 2 diabetes were found by researchers at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York using Topological Data Analysis (TDA) of genotype and electronic health record data

Patient data capturing

• Clinical trial efficiency is increased through expanding patient engagement and improving clinical data, the Internet of Things, virtual reality, machine learning, and smart sensors are further technologies that support improving clinical trials through data collecting
• Clinical trials are centered on patient data since it guides future clinical outcomes and research agendas
• The usage of central data hubs and wearable devices is helping to automate data monitoring and collects a variety of information that is difficult to obtain, this data can be statistically monitored by organizations, and important information can theoretically be accessible from various locations

Remote Monitoring

• Remote monitoring in clinical trials is a comprehensive, cutting-edge digital technology that enables a flexible on-site/off-site approach to research oversight
• Because there are fewer site visits necessary and more patients with mobility challenges, travel concerns, and chronic and incapacitating illnesses can participate in the study, remote monitoring lessens the load on the patients
• During site inspections, it enables on-site monitors to have strategic conversations and work out issues, the monitor can watch processes and address protocol violations rather than reading papers while sitting in a room

Virtual Clinical Trial

• Fully virtual or decentralized trials use technology and procedures including eConsent, telemedicine, Electronic Clinical Outcome Assessment (eCOA), Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM), mobile health (mHealth), wearables, and digital biomarker collecting to perform every aspect of the study remotely
• Virtual clinical trials leverage the power of telehealth/digital technology by including virtual patient monitoring, wearable medical devices, remote SDV, etc. to conduct safe and improved clinical trial research. These virtual trials are patient-centric, cost-effective, and easy to manage

eSource and electronic health record integration

• Through machine learning, artificial intelligence, and natural language processing tools, EHR data is now “read” and mapped directly into eSource and data collection databases
• This ability to pull data directly from the EHR to populate Electronic Case Report Forms (eCRFs) is resulting in a far more efficient clinical trial model
• With the adoption of EHR integration technology, it is no longer necessary to read a patient's chart and then manually enter the necessary data into eCRFs thus reducing the requirement for clinical research associates to physically travel to the site to audit the eCRF data against the EHR because the data is electronically sent straight from the EHR into the eCRF

Wearable technologies

• The integration of wearable health monitors with smartphones now offers increasing capabilities to collect and store health data in real-time
• An increasing number of pharmaceutical and biotechnology sponsors are already using wearables to realize the potential benefits
• GlaxoSmithKline used Apple ResearchKit in a study for rheumatoid arthritis called PARADE, which was supported by an iPhone app, this was the first time that a pharmaceutical company had used the open-source software framework to conduct clinical research