Innovative Study Site Partnerships Help Sponsors Address The Challenges Of Patient Centric Trials

By Mark Brown, Vice President, Global Patient and Site Solutions, IQVIA

It is no surprise that the global pandemic has created challenges in allowing trial sites to conduct research focusing on efficiency and quality care. However, it has also brought to the forefront the long-established systemic issues that site teams face in trial operations and related patient care and the staff burdens. Ongoing issues such as increasing administrative responsibilities and timely patient onboarding make it difficult for site teams to focus more of their time on the bigger picture of high-quality patient care.

With the urgency of the situation to maintain trial continuity through COVID-19, the industry had an opportunity to dive deep into its out-of-the-box thinking. With speed and agility to elevate innovation in site support, startup, and management strategies and execution, sponsors, clinical research organizations (CROs), and sites made a tangible difference in day-to-day efforts of the site teams to ultimately ensure that research, discovery, and high-quality patient care were on track and with increased efficiencies and shortened timelines.

Now, the industry has a chance to look back, reflect, and integrate what worked well in site startup and management into future trial programs, especially as site operating models are shifting.