Decentralized Clinical Trials (DCT) Monthly Blog – May 2021

This month in the DCT Blog, we are going to put the spotlight on several events coming up in the next few weeks.

Registration now open for our webinar on DCTs in Neuroscience

On July 14 we will be presenting a webinar on the topic of implementing a DCT approach within neuroscience trials. Titled: “Modernizing Clinical Trials Using a Virtual Framework: A Scientific Perspective on Endpoint Measurement and Best Practices in Neuroscience,” this webinar will cover how DCT elements such as eCOAs can be incorporated into neuroscience trials to provide a better experience for all stakeholders.  Because each therapeutic area represents unique challenges in trial design and implementation, we are hosting this discussion about DCTs specifically within the neuroscience area.  We will cover perspectives on the benefits and challenges of using a DCT approach in neuroscience trials, along with discussion about regulatory implications. Registration is now open for this free webinar. Be sure to get this on your calendar and sign up early!

Join us at DIA!

We are excited to announce that we will have a strong presence at the DIA 2021 Global Annual Meeting. This virtual event runs from June 27 through July 1, and will be filled with content that is relevant to our DCT blog readership. One of the themes of the meeting relates to patient equity, engagement, and accessibility, so our presentations will adopt this focus. Over the past year, many clients have come to us with a diverse range of needs in this space, so we will have ample real world experience to talk about. 

DCT coverage at DIA gets off to a great start on June 28 in the session talk: “Walking the Talk: What Happens when Clinical Trialists Join a Clinical Trial.”  Our very own Jane Myles, an SME within our DCT Implementation team, had the opportunity to join a clinical trial during the pandemic, and relates her own personal journey as a participant. This session which she chairs will share experiences from several members of the trials industry who played a part in recent DCTs.

On June 29, we are hosting a panel discussion in a Spotlight Symposium: Tales from the Front: Patient Equity and Engagement in Practice from Trial Design Through Execution. This lively panel of four SMEs from across our global operations will cover challenges we’ve seen starting with planning for the overall trial design. The challenge of filling the clinical trial enrollment pipeline is one of the most widely hailed barriers to timely trial completion, and the discussions usually split into “how to attract more patients” and “how to keep patients engaged so they don’t drop out.”  In this Spotlight Symposium we will use case studies and stories from our clients to dig deeper, focusing less on “getting enough patients” and more on how clinical trial models are evolving to deliver “the right patients.”  Our tales from the front will discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly aspects of designing trials to be conducted closer to patients.  And we won’t stop there: We will also discuss the question of how to make new therapies more accessible, from the perspective of phase IIIb/IV trials and subsequent Real World Evidence trials.

On July 1, we are hosting an Innovation Theater titled: ICYMI: Game on! How Gamification drives engagement in pediatric and adolescent clinical trials.  This fun session will focus on gamification and other app-based approaches to keeping youth participants in clinical trials interested in participating in order to deliver high quality data through a patient experience designed around the unique needs of pediatric and adolescent patients.

Later on July 1, we present another Innovation theater titled: Diversifying clinical trial populations from the ground up: best practices and observations to ensure your trial includes a representative population of participants. We will be discussing new approaches to finding, recruiting, and enrolling patients, as well as the latest strategies for using virtual investigator sites within fully decentralized trials to efficiently provide medical oversight.

Thanks for joining us here at the DCT blog. We look forward to seeing you next month!