Introduction To Decentralized Clinical Trials

Many terms are used to describe decentralized clinical trials (DCTs) such as ‘virtual’, ‘remote’, ‘site-less’, and ‘hybrid’ but what is the exact definition? The FDA recently defined DCTs as the decentralization of clinical trial operations where technology is used to communicate with study participants and collect data. They also clarified that DCTs should not be confused with virtual trials which are based on computer models and do not use real participants but computer programs to model participants to assess drug efficacy and safety during the preclinical phase.

This blog clarifies the definition of DCTs and highlights their benefits and associated technologies.