At the beginning of the year, we took a look at the top clinical trial trends emerging, and as we enter the second half of 2021 it is time to revisit how these overarching themes have evolved in the field. We touched on further digitization, personalized medicine, and pre-recruitment practices. Now, we’ll dig into the way these and other trends have come along and where they’re going moving forward.
Digitization and Personalization of Medicine
There is still a push toward virtual clinical trials due to the continued disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic, and with this comes the rise of service providers which bridge the gap between sponsors and patients. Virtual CRO’s are becoming an increasingly popular option, as the decentralized nature of this approach is often more convenient for patients and more cost effective for sponsors. (You can learn more about Virtual CRO’s and their benefits in the current climate of medicine, here.)
Here at Citruslabs we are beginning to operate virtual clinical trials in addition to our work as a patient recruitment software, and as we’ve explored previously on the blog, this allows us to achieve even greater patient engagement and tailor our work to the individual needs of your research
Emerging Trends
One of the foremost trends emerging is the continued rise of vaccine trials, both for Covid-19 and other viruses. According to the WHO, there are currently 80 Covid vaccines being tested in clinical trials and another 180 are in preclinical stages. Given the boom of vaccine trials and demand, it’s likely that research companies with the cold-chain storage required for some vaccines will benefit greatly, while others may struggle to keep up.
Additionally, Britain’s departure from the European Union is already beginning to affect clinical research all over the world. Logistics challenges like navigating customs and borders, VAT processing, and sites and suppliers being required to obtain Exporter of Records Identification (EORI) may slow down existing clinical protocols.
Want to learn more?
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.
Now a #1 health app in 17 countries, our Mindmate app is helping to revolutionize the way we think about healthcare. Mindmate “[takes] senior care into the digital age” (Forbes, 2018) by providing people with the cognitive decline the essential tools to help them rebuild and maintain strong mental health. Trusted by millions of users, our health community continues to grow as the content available expands to the needs of individuals today.
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.