Decentralized and Hybrid Clinical Trial Adoption

What percentage of the clinical trials you work on are currently

decentralized/virtual or hybrid trials?

Decentralized and hybrid trial adoption is clearly still limited across the world, with 35% of respondents revealing that none of the trials they are working on are currently decentralized or hybrid. This is in stark contrast to just 9% that say all of their trials are.

North American adoption is higher than any other region, with 'just' 24% not using decentralized and hybrid trial at all.

*Excluding 'Not Applicable' (22)

How has COVID-19 and the associated lockdowns impacted the use of decentralized/virtual or hybrid aspects for trials you are working on?

The spread of COVID-19 and the associated lockdowns has made traditional clinical trials impossible for much of 2020 in many parts of the world. It is therefore perhaps unsurprising to see that 76% of respondents reveal that the pandemic has led to increased use of decentralized or hybrid trials, with just 6% saying it has reduced use.

What impact do you think COVID-19 will have on the adoption of decentralized/virtual or hybrid trials across the industry in the longer term?

Looking at the longer term impacts of COVID-19, the picture is even more clear, with 91% of respondents believing that coronavirus will likely speed up/increase their adoption of decentralized and hybrid trials. On the following page we take a closer look at some of the ways in which COVID-19 has impacted strategy.

How has COVID-19 impacted your use and future strategy of decentralized/hybrid trials? (Selected responses)

"We already had the strategy in place, and the technology. COVID-19 has given us a listening audience."
"Accelerated and focused importance, particularly for patients trying to live normal lives with long term health condition."
"The situation is a good use case that other operational models also work."
"Additional demand for decentralized trials. Modifications for protocols to allow for more decentralized visits and the need to de-couple some site based procedures to allow more visits to be remote."
"Increasing customer demand."
"Data focused trial redesign to minimize number of patients and patient visits, including drug logistics to home or other types of home services."
"Uncertainty regarding Investigator Site Access (particularly in Europe) to complete Source Data Verification (SDV). Many Sponsors have delayed the initiation of new trials and paused further enrollment for on-going trials."

"Increased awareness, patient input into strategy has increased, and informed consent andIP shipment has been re-designed and improved."
"Additional requests for direct to patient supply shipments."
"It has accelerated out of the box thinking to try new methods that were available before but the company didn't have the courage to try."
"We have moved to remote qualification, site initiation and monitoring."

How likely is it that your company will increase its use of
decentralized/virtual or hybrid trials in the next two years?

Despite current use of decentralized and hybrid trials relatively low, there is still clearly high hopes for the technology, with 84% respondents thinking it is 'likely' or 'certain' that their company will increase its use of decentralized or hybrid trials in the next two years.