Digitize Your Trial

Digital transformation or ‘Digitization’ is a trend that is fundamentally changing the life sciences industry, where the rate of scientific discovery demands more advanced technology and strategies to solve challenges and support change and innovation. Consider the fact that patient participation still remains one of the biggest challenges in clinical research, and that a decentralized trial approach has been implemented among many sponsors to solve issues with meeting enrollment goals. And while decentralized studies are not novel concepts, the disruption of nearly 68 percent1 of clinical trials during the height of the pandemic last year has caused the widespread adoption of hybrid or virtual trial models.

This trend toward making studies more accessible to patient populations, particularly in remote areas — and the investments in technology infrastructure to promote decentralized study models — will continue.

What are the necessary steps that organizations must take to embrace the transformation of processes that will usher in a new way forward for clinical trials? We can start by thinking about the key elements to enable your digital transformation objectives:

• Social and mobile technology that capture diverse data sources and connects patients and clinical researchers

• Data and analytics that enable greater control over data quality and drive real-time insights • Cloud technology that can scale, process and store data efficiently • AI and machine learning models to reduce manual efforts • Agile practices that leverage managed service providers, cloud vendors and technology partners to remain lean and nimble

These areas establish a foundation from which the biopharmaceutical industry can begin to evolve trials to improve outcomes dramatically. By paving the way for digital transformation goals to be met, clinical research can focus on moving forward new treatments and experiences to patients. ‘Continuous change is the status quo’.

Pooja Singh, Principal Analyst, The Gartner Top Predictions for Healthcare & Life Sciences in 2022, Presented 12.09.2021

1 Adams, B. (2020, July 1). More than two-thirds of trials hit by Covid-19 enrollment halts, with midstage tests the worst affected. FierceBiotech.