Exploring digital transformation of clinical trials

Aug 9 12:37pm | Kanaaz Pereira, Connect Moderator | @kanaazpereira

Mayo Clinic Proceedings published a comprehensive series, "Forward Thinking on Clinical Trials in Clinical Practice," from August 2023 through April 2024. The series explores:

Pragmatic clinical trials, which consider how an intervention may affect a patient's condition in the real world, and how to effectively use these interventions in clinical practice.
Decentralized clinical trials, made possible by new technology that improves the experience for participants, expedites results and may reduce costs.
Community engagement with minority and underserved populations, to assure the diversity of participants and improve the accuracy and relevance of results.
How to counter health inequities through technological and research design innovations.
Ethical and regulatory challenges of emerging health data platforms.

Here are some highlights from the series:

October:

"The Digitization and Decentralization of Clinical Trials" describes how researchers use technology to move trials outside the clinic and institutional walls, allowing more people to participate in pragmatic studies and providing real-time data for investigators. It promotes the inclusion of those who have been and continue to be marginalized by the "digital divide," the gap between those who have access, resources, and familiarity with digital technology and those who do not.

December:

"For digital solutions to truly improve healthcare and clinical trial participation for all persons in an equitable way, targeted interventions to address historic injustices and structural racism in how clinical research has been conducted are essential," writes LaPrincess Brewer, M.D., a Mayo Clinic cardiologist, in "Health Disparities, Clinical Trials, and the Digital Divide.

January:

Community engagement is key to reducing racial and ethnic disparities in clinical trials, according to the January review: "Community Engagement Strategies for Underrepresented Racial and Ethnic Populations."

"Through careful deliberation and involvement with community partners, researchers can develop tailored blueprints for clinical trials that can ensure that our science reflects the needs of all populations," says Folakemi Odedina, Ph.D., first author of the article.

February:

Designing clinical trials relevant to special populations often underrepresented, such as children, older adults and people with rare diseases, requires a determined strategy for community engagement. This review, "Clinical Trials for Special Populations: Children, Older Adults and Rare Diseases," calls for innovative and consistent communication with patients and families, among other strategies.

March:

Frontline healthcare workers have much to contribute to how pragmatic clinical trials are designed and implemented, and their work can assure more relevant outcomes, according to the article, "Building Capacity for Pragmatic Trials of Digital Technology in Primary Care." Involving primary care clinicians early in the trial design process can help improve recruitment from underrepresented and socially disadvantaged populations, the article says. It also proposes ways to best use the input from frontline healthcare workers.