Is The Advent Of Decentralized Clinical Trials A Blessing Or A Curse?

By John Illingworth

As the evolution of wearables, mHealth apps, and other technologies has minimized the need for patients to endure arduous in-person monitoring, decentralized clinical trials (DCTs) have been on the upswing. In the past year, necessity born of COVID-19 escalated DCTs’ use exponentially — and now that patients have begun to adapt, there is no going back. While sponsors, concerned about patient-centricity, are embracing the idea, sites are worried about implementation. They are asking: “Can we really do this?”