The inability to conduct clinical trials amid the pandemic, forced the pharmaceutical industry accelerate the implementation of decentralised trials (DCTs) and virtual trials.
GlobalData conducted a survey to identify the proportion of pre-pandemic DCT use by specific geographies.
Pre-pandemic Decentralised Trials Use by Region
An assessment of the survey results found that only 34% of the respondents were using DCTs before COVID-19 outbreak.
The percentage is the highest in North America, where 41% of the surveyed developers said that they were using virtual trials before the pandemic.
It was followed by Europe (33%), Asia-Pacific (21%) and Rest of World (17%).
Before the pandemic, the DCTs were generally used for rare diseases to meet subject accrual, paediatric trials and for lower level chronic diseases such as asthma and dermatology.
Such virtual trials also faced more regulatory hurdles.
The analysis is based on responses received from the GlobalData Coronavirus Survey – COVID-19 and Decentralised Clinical Trials fielded between 04 June and 22 June 2020.
