While the world remains impressed by the successful development of COVID-19 vaccines, other aspects of clinical research and trials have also recorded significant progress over the last decade.
The onset of the global health crisis in 2020 set biotech companies worldwide in a race to develop, test, and distribute a vaccine effective against COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2). The extraordinarily high numbers of ongoing vaccine trials significantly affected enrollment and startup periods. Now that the vaccines have been rolled out, the success of immunization efforts will depend on the vaccines' widespread adoption.
The global pandemic has had a significant impact on clinical trials. Enrollment in trials was suspended initially and later during periods of high COVID-19 contagion risk. With the suspension or pausing of many non-COVID-19 trials, sponsors are already planning subject recruitment for when trials resume once COVID-19 subsides or is brought under control. This will demand editing of research materials and adjustments to patient flow. This must be done in ways that will allow trial sponsors to swiftly get things going when trials restart.
In subject recruitment for clinical trials, an emerging trend is the increased use of digital advertising to target and recruit suitable patients. More than ever before, patients and other potential trial subjects are on their smartphones and other digital devices. It is expected that trial patient recruiters will tap more into new content marketing mediums such as podcast placements in the near future.
The upsurge in remote clinical trials is a new trend. With the remote model gaining more prominence, the traditional supply chain and staff deployment have changed. Clinical trials can now have a larger reach, spanning boundaries including the most distant locations where it was previously impossible to recruit or reach subjects.
The development and wide usage of innovative digital technologies in the 21st century facilitate easier collection and management of clinical trial data. The quicker analysis of data using software platforms is helping sponsors of clinical trials to achieve a more transparent, efficient trial management process.
Internet of Things technology such as connected medical devices is now facilitating physiological data collection from trial subjects. These factors are contributing to greater accuracy, real-time monitoring, and better data sets. The research staff spends less time on data collection and entry, leading to time and resource savings. The need to increase the human connection during clinical trials is growing, and automated follow-up mechanisms such as emails or text messages are gaining prominence.
The world of clinical research is also witnessing an expanding role of independent sites. A critical factor in this regard is their ability to recruits subjects more predictably from their databases or within their medical practices. When compared to large hospitals and academic medical centers, independent sites can also start trials faster. Such sites are smaller and more agile, resulting in increased versatility.
The clinical research area has seen many victories and changes in recent years. Top among these was the development of new medicines to meet new medical challenges such as COVID-19 and unmet demand. The trend is expected to continue through 2021 and beyond.
