To combat the sweeping trends of low recruitment rates, high expenses, and poor engagement, many clinical trial sponsors have turned to virtual solutions, and some are abandoning the traditional site-based clinical study model all together.
These shifts towards virtual CROs -- sometimes thought of as decentralized clinical research organizations, make sense given the boom of technological and medical advancements in the last few decades. These tools make virtual CROs a more streamlined and cost-effective way to deliver clinical trials. However, there are some roadblocks to making the jump to virtual trials.
What challenges face traditional CROs?
Patient recruitment and retention remain challenging for traditionally run clinical trials, despite efforts to increase awareness of studies. This is largely attributed to the high participant burden and inconvenience to patients that comes with traditionally run clinical studies. For some patients, even just the requirement to travel to a study site is enough of a deterrent to prevent them from participating in clinical research. Sometimes travel to a site can be lengthy, time consuming, and ill-supported and lacking in reimbursement by the site.
These kinds of patient burdens cause financial commitments and disruption to participant’s personal lives, making traditional clinical trials a less feasible option.
What do Virtual CROs offer patients?
Virtual models offer practicality and accessibility, as even though some virtual studies are centralized around a clinical research site, most do not require patients to physically visit a site. This approach is especially beneficial for those afflicted by rare or very serious illnesses, as they can participate in the research even if they are unable to travel far from home.
Further, in cases where mobile medical professionals are sent to patients’ homes in order to collect samples or perform physical exams, patients are able to set their own schedules and avoid major routine disruptions.
What do Virtual CROs offer Clinical Trial Sponsors?
Virtual CROs can help researchers access a wider patient pool, by expanding the geographic patient catchment areas. This means a more diverse patient population is at your fingertips, and you’re also increasing the accessibility of your research to those who live in less populous areas.
Virtual trial models may also offer increased data quality, given that mobile reporting and wearable devices can transfer information in real-time instead of being reported manually.
Virtual CROs help to reduce study costs as well, by optimizing study design and accelerating enrollment timelines. They also eliminate the need for overhead costs on multiple research sites, staffing, or storage, which greatly reduces investigator grant payments.
Stay informed on Clinical Studies
Citrus is a fully integrated recruitment and retention software that 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.
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