Line of “site” to better drug development: Site-centric clinical trial tech

Pharma sponsors are realizing they must address clinical trial site inefficiencies that have been a byproduct of (or have been neglected by) the otherwise largely successful efforts to make drug development more efficient with clinical trial technology.

Historically, trial sponsors have mandated trial sites use each sponsors’ preferred clinical trial technology stack. As a result, sites’ needs and preferences have been overlooked, and sites have been overwhelmed with multiple disconnected solutions.

To resolve this, sponsors are increasingly focusing on adopting site-centric technology for streamlining workflows, reducing administrative burden and compliance errors, and enhancing sponsor-site relationships. We highlight the key areas where we see site-centric technology making an impact – study start-up, source data collection, and imaging – and some of the innovative companies providing these solutions.

Despite a remarkable surge in adoption of eClinical solutions since the onset of the pandemic, particularly decentralized or hybrid solutions to conduct clinical trials remotely, trials remain inefficient as trial costs and protocol complexity increase and timelines tighten. In many ways, the long journey to substantially increase drug development efficiency with technology has just begun. Trials sites bear the brunt of the pain: Factors ranging from staffing shortages to low patient participation rates mean sites must do more with less. At the same time, sites are burdened with more administrative tasks now than ever and still spend an inordinate amount of time on manual processes and administrative work. Solutions aimed at increasing trial site efficiency are key to alleviating the pain.