PubReading [295] - Decentralized Clinical Trials The Future of Medical Product Development? - G. Van Norman,

The Covid-19 pandemic disrupted many clinical trials that were potentially bringing new therapeutics to market—an additional untallied cost of the pandemic in lives and quality of life owing to delays in releasing potentially beneficial therapeutics to patients in need. A separate side effect of the pandemic has been swift adoption of virtual interactions between physicians and patients to provide continuity of care while maintaining social distancing. This comes at a time of rapid advancement of technology permitting those interactions, such as enhanced internet connectivity, electronic health records, real-time video conferencing, smartphone health applications, and remotely connectable health monitoring devices that are becoming both more accurate, practical, and affordable. Interest in decentralized clinical trials (DCTs) that use “virtual elements” like these has grown in parallel with acceptance of “virtual medicine,” accelerating shifts in clinical trial design that many feel are long overdue.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacbts.2021.01.011 - 2021