The rise of ‘virtual’ medical care spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic has helped pave the way for a new approach to conducting clinical trials.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK, USA, December 28, 2022/ EINPresswire.com / -- There’s a quiet revolution underway that’s changing the way some new medical therapies are developed and evaluated: The rise of the decentralized clinical trial, which could help make innovative treatments, including cutting-edge oncology drugs, available to more patients, says Selin Kurnaz, Ph.D., chief executive officer and co-founder of Massive Bio, which uses a proprietary artificial intelligence platform called SYNERGY-AI to match cancer patients to clinical trials of innovative new therapies.

Traditionally, clinical trials have been conducted at one or more research hubs or clinical sites, where patients who volunteer to participate go to enroll, receive experimental treatments, and have their response to these novel therapies monitored by scientists conducting the trial. However, the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic threw clinical trials of new drugs and other treatments into turmoil, as many patients chose to stay away from hospitals and clinics as part of social distancing.

At the same time, however, “virtual” office visits became the norm across healthcare, as doctors and other clinicians used telemedicine—primarily in the form of video conferencing—to treat patients without meeting in person, sparing the risk of exposure to the coronavirus. This trend helped give momentum to an idea already taking shape: Using telemedicine and other tools to conduct “virtual” clinical trials, which are now widely known as decentralized trials.

There are different decentralized trials, but all are designed to reduce the need for participating patients to receive treatment and monitoring at a clinical site. In some decentralized trials, patients may be able to receive all or most of their treatment at home, whether by self-administration of therapy or a visit from a healthcare worker. Wearable medical devices can monitor vital signs, which can be wirelessly transmitted to clinical investigators. However, more common is a “hybrid” version of the decentralized trial, which allows some participation to occur offsite, but still requires patients to visit a research hub on occasion for more complex treatments and assessments.

There are many potential upsides to decentralized trials. They can increase diversity and inclusiveness in research by allowing patients who otherwise may not be able to enroll in a clinical trial taking place at a distant site due to travel costs, the inability to take time off from work, or mobility problems. By minimizing geography as a barrier to participation, developers of new drugs and other medical products have access to a larger pool of patients. That can help address a chronic problem in the development of medicines, which is the difficulty of recruiting an adequate number of patients to enroll in a clinical trial, which often results in trials being abandoned.

There are challenges to running a decentralized trial, such as ensuring that medicines being studied are stored and administered safely, as well as guaranteeing the accuracy and privacy of patient data collected by biometric wearable devices. However, solving these logistical concerns could have significant long-term benefits for patients. “A wider embrace of decentralized clinical trials will help accelerate the development of new therapies in oncology and other areas of medicine,” says Kurnaz. “Breaking down barriers to participation in clinical trials makes them more democratic and helps bring new treatments to market faster. Both are good for patients.”

About Massive Bio
Massive Bio empowers cancer patients to find their best treatment options, providing convenient access and enrollment services for oncology clinical trials worldwide, powered by advanced artificial intelligence. Founded on the belief that all people should have equal access to leading-edge therapies, Massive Bio combines its best-in-class AI platform with expertise in genomics, engineering, and data analytics to remove the many barriers to cancer patient enrollment and participation in clinical trials. Headquartered in New York City, Massive Bio is a privately held company that operates in 12 countries.

Tim Gower
Massive Bio
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