Clinical Trial Trends

The last 3 years have witnessed significant growth in the medical field, thanks to technological advancement. Blockchain is a big step towards clinical data management as it helps collect and disseminate information within medical networks. According to Obviohealth, clinical researchers can maintain inclusivity, reduce biasness, strengthen clinical data management and oversee diverse trial data.

Current Trends In Clinical Trials

Years 2020 and 2021 saw increased clinical trial activity, especially vaccine trials. The global medical attention shifted towards coronavirus as companies raced against time to find its vaccine. Data from the World Health Organisation shows up to 80 coronavirus vaccines undergoing clinical trials. Besides, over 180 are in the pre-clinical trials, which is one of the largest concentrations of a single disease vaccine trial in recent medical history.

The EU is a socio-political and economic union, pooling together resources that could be instrumental in localising clinical trials. Brexit brought in logistical challenges as the UK was an important transport corridor in Western Europe. It disrupts supply chain, clinical research methods, taxation and manufacturing, which takes time and money to adjust.

Clinical trial dynamics changed at the onset of the coronavirus disease. Its infectious nature meant that authorities suspended physical administration. Adjusting to virtually controlled trials took time since it had to undergo proof of concept before mass roll-out. Although not as effective as physical clinical trials, remote monitoring and data collection have since improved.

Clinical research is getting better by the day, from personalised medicine to data management in post clinical trials and the overall digital transformation. Most clinical trial trends revolved around technology and its effectiveness in the mass roll-out. Moving into 2022, pharmaceutical companies will increase their drug development and clinical research to mirror the evolving medical technology.

3 Disruptions to Clinical Trials

Virtual Clinical Trials: Technology Trends

There have been significant improvements in medical technology, especially over the last 3 years. The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated digital clinical trials to counter the spread of the disease. However, it took some time to master virtual clinical trial registration, drug administration, data collection and evaluating clinical trial statistics. In 2022, the process is more defined, and pharmaceutical companies can roll out mass clinical trials for other diseases.

Blockchain has also grown to be a data management and dissemination tool. Its security features make the data safe and only shares it with the right people. Since clinical studies are highly-guarded procedures, blockchain can receive data from different trials. It makes the clinical trials more inclusive, especially for regulatory bodies and government institutions.

Virtual Clinical Trials: Healthcare Trends

The last 10 years have seen the sprouting of SARS, which are highly infectious diseases. SARS-COV-2 is the latest in the cycle, whose transmission rate is relatively high. Pharmaceutical companies have now well into virtual clinical trials, applying this approach in other non-related trials. Its effectiveness, cost-cutting and regulatory ease make drug administration easy, faster and safer.

The pharmaceutical world embraces technical disruptions, with new systems being good case studies for future clinical trials. Clinical studies now have modern methods to carry out trials as diseases morph up. Technological companies innovate medical devices to make the process feasible, accurate and timely.

Virtual Clinical Trials: Macroeconomic Trends

For the last 3 years, the political class have concentrated their resources on healthcare management. Most funds go to research, development and improving regulatory policies to meet demand. The COVID-19 pandemic made most governments improve their health capacity and strengthen monitoring as a future precautionary measure.

Other political factors like BREXIT and Russia-Ukraine War fuels the need to have an alternative approach in clinical trials. Pharmaceutical companies should have the internal capacity to administer clinical trials, collect data and analyse it for regulation and production.

Impact Of Covid-19 On Clinical Trials

• Most medical institutions have fully automated their clinical trial procedures. There is increased research and clinical studies around rare diseases. Clinicaltrials.gov has data showing the growth in over 2 decades.
• There is increased funding and sponsorship for clinical trials.
• COVID-19 saw a heightened effort to manufacture vaccines on a large scale, totalling over 250 in 2 years.