H Clinical News

As research study sponsors and CROs look to reach clinical trial recruitment and participant retention goals, they should consider moving some trial site activities into patients’ homes. This was proven during the COVID-19 pandemic, as the use of decentralized and hybrid trials became the norm by necessity. According to the data in this article published in Clinical Leader, trial recruitment has shown to improve by as much as 60% and retention rates have maintained as high as 90%. What life sciences organization wouldn’t want to replicate those numbers in their trials?

Benefits to Rare Disease Trials

The story states that “the physical location of the study center is among the top three factors that hinder patients from participating in a clinical trial.” Consider the challenges related to reaching rural and dispersed patient populations for rare disease trials alone. The benefits realized by implementing home healthcare are numerous. In fact, 50% of rare diseases affect children, 30% of whom will die before the age of 5 (source: The Lancet). Traveling a great distance to a trial site is just not feasible. Many families are already devastated by the impact and financial burdens of the disease.

Home Health Trends Rising

The article also mentions that “FDA guidance” on trial conduct during COVID-19 advises sponsors to evaluate alternate methods of patient assessments. This is when travelling to sites may be restricted and it becomes necessary to protect the safety of patients and medical staff. Deploying in-home health professionals can reduce anxiety and increase comfort and convenience (source: ICON). Since many providers had already started turning to home healthcare solutions prior to the pandemic due to cost savings and better outcomes, this evolution in clinical research trials makes perfect sense.

The H Clinical View

The article concludes with a look at the future of home healthcare services. COVID-19 has forced sponsors to embrace decentralized trials to give patients affordable treatment at home. “This is possible with a global network of distributors experienced with domestic and international logistics…” With COVID-19 still surging in some parts of Latin America, H Clinical is the leader in decentralized clinical trial support with coverage in 22 countries. H Clinical is a strategic partner that empowers clinical trial sponsors with the infrastructure and thousands of GCP-trained home health nurses ready to help reach and retain more patients to participate from the comfort of home.