Decentralized Clinical Research Will Be A Paradigm-Shifting Trend

No longer a “nice-to-have” but a “need-to-have,” decentralized clinical research will be a paradigm-shifting trend for the industry.

Decentralized clinical trials (DCTs) leverage resources like wearables and other sources of patient-generated data to be more consumer-centric, resulting in greater participant access, more accurate results, and accelerated clinical developments. While in-clinic assessments offer researchers a ‘snapshot’ in time of an individual’s health, the continuous monitoring made possible by decentralized methods gives them the entire ‘reel.’ Technologies such as these, which center around privacy and security for participants, accelerate the adoption of virtual clinical research. With patient privacy and data security assurance, now is the time to replace dated, institution-based clinical trials with digital, decentralized platforms that will unlock unbiased and broader clinical research. Unlike institutional data alone, decentralized research can extract patient-generated and reported health data such as physical activity levels, vital signs, sleep patterns, and nutrition; and this real-world data can provide deeper dimensions to our views of an individual’s health and how they experience a product or an intervention. It’s likely that as research subjects become more digitally native, they will demand convenience and accessibility consistently in a patient-centric way; gathering real-world evidence and data by leveraging how and where people live – on their smartphones – will stand as the optimal way.