Earlier this week, we explored some of the reasons virtual clinical research organizations offer increased patient engagement. Today, we put together some of the feedback we’ve received from patients of virtual trials over the last few months in order to hear directly from those involved how a decentralized approach to clinical trials can make a difference.
One patient that was involved in a virtual clinical trial for arthritis patients appreciated being able to participate in clinical research that he wouldn’t normally have access to in his community.
"I live in an area that doesn't have the best access to medical resources, and during Covid I was able to take part in a virtual trial. It opened up a world of possibilities for me, and I was able to try a treatment I otherwise never could've gotten around here,” Jamie said.
He also noted that he felt more engaged with the trial than he might have been if the research had involved a travel obligation. He told us that when his symptoms are bad driving becomes difficult, and beyond that travelling far from his local area and potentially missing work had never been financially feasible in the past. Now though, Jamie was able to try out a new treatment from his home and schedule his online visits around his work and family obligations.
“I even noticed improvement in my symptoms, more than I've seen in years of other treatments and exercises and things like that...This was a game changer for me, and I'm really thankful for the way medical research has evolved to where I can be a part of all of this from my own home,” Jamie said.
Stephen, a participant in a dermatitis virtual trial we recently recruited for, found the experience to be as safe and secure as a centralized trial, and infinitely more convenient.
"The virtual trial thing sort of freaked me out at first...but the (Citruslabs) team really helped to talk me through the security and safety of the whole process, and after we got started I stopped worrying about it pretty quickly. The virtual visits and communication ended up being way simpler than traveling somewhere would've been,” Stephen said.
Learn more about the benefits and challenges of working with a Virtual CRO instead of a traditional CRO, here.
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In addition to reporting clinical trial news and stories from within the patient community, we operate Citrus, a fully integrated recruitment and retention software. Citrus fits any clinical trial and simplifies the implementation of patient engagement in your clinical trial. Whether you are already working with CTMS systems or not, Citrus is the perfect add-on to make patient interaction effective.
Since 2015, our team has been hard at work raising awareness of clinical trials across the globe. A Forbes ‘30 Under 30’ company and a graduate of the renowned Techstar program in New York, Citruslabs is at the forefront of patient recruitment and retention technologies. With over 3 million patients now recorded on our databases, our patient recruitment dashboard is fast becoming the most efficient method of trial recruitment.
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With more than 200 research sites now using the Citrus platform to screen thousands of patients every month, researchers are now well on their way to finding new treatments for hundreds of different health conditions - something that just would not be possible without a technological solution. Make sure that your clinical trial is in the lucky 12% and turn that luck into guaranteed results with Citrus.