Like all other areas, there is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the Clinical Trials domain due to safety measures taken by the Government, such as lockdowns and mandatory closures across the globe. This unprecedented situation created a great challenge for the studies that require in-person contact. Understanding the consequences, many of the stakeholders quickly adapted trial protocols to include the usage of telehealth and remote methods. This shows that the trends towards virtualization of clinical trials have begun, but the prevalence of using virtual methods remains unknown. Thus, researchers from the University of Oklahoma performed a systematic search of ClinicalTrials.gov for COVID-19 related trials registered since the pandemic began and extracted data from included studies where researchers reported using telecommunication, virtualization, or remote data collection to deliver interventions and monitor the outcome.
Out of 2383 studies, 2109 (88.5%) were ongoing, and 274 (11.5%) were discontinued. Overall, 519 (24.6%) ongoing COVID-19 trials reported using virtual methods for trial conduct, and 43 (15.7%) discontinued trials reported using virtual methods. So nearly 40% of the studies adopted virtual methods that may be by randomizing participants via phone, delivering medical supplies, gathering data via manual input into electronic surveys by participants etc.
Thus, researchers reported that developing strategies that allow for continuing trials during emergencies may limit trial disruption. Ensuring the safe continuation of COVID-19-related clinical trials remains necessary for establishing novel therapeutics and treatments amid an ongoing pandemic. Thus, exploring and developing remote trial methods may continue to be valuable considering emerging COVID-19 variants and may persist beyond the pandemic.
Source: Greenough MC, Sajjadi NB, Rucker B, Vassar M, Hartwell M. The use of telecommunication and virtualization among ongoing and discontinued COVID-19 clinical trials: A cross-sectional analysis. Contemporary clinical trials. 2022 Jan 16:106681.
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