For the last couple of years, clinical trials are known to become more and more digitally-oriented. There are various technological devices and software developments that are used to streamline good clinical practices. We have got mobile applications to help researchers perform routine tasks with patients involved. Trial participants, on the other hand, use wearables or their smartphones to send and receive reminders or important information from caregivers. Moreover, industry professionals do their best to improve life science globally by deploying smart solutions and innovative approaches in a much faster and more efficient way than ever before. Yet, despite such industry “boosters”, managing trials could still be something extremely challenging on a number of occasions. Especially when in today’s clinical trends their complexity increases along with the strictness of regulations as well. Plenty of time- and money-related restrains exist too. Then, there are ineffective or outdated systems used. And sometimes even the lack of sufficient communication, transparency and clearness to regular procedures, trial costs, regulatory risks and progress can hamper and/or deteriorate any clinical trial management operation. Therefore, CROs, have started to implement clinical trial management systems (CTMS) as the best solution that will help them avoid such jeopardies or disadvantageous consequences.
Because of the plethora of marketplace, regulatory, technical and scientific changes that happen in clinical research, there is a pressing need for advanced methods that better clinical trial management. To do that, research collaborators, investigators and sponsors from all around the world choose clinical trial management systems with robust set of capabilities and tools.
What is a CTMS and what are the benefits of using one such system for trial management?
CTMS represents a software system that brings a myriad of operational benefits for researchers and teams involved in clinical trials. Clinical trial management systems help CROs maintain planning, initiating and reporting of study-based procedures. In addition to this, they are enabled to monitor the overall development of a given trial, manage vital participant contact information, control and visualize voluminous scientific data, track deadlines, apply custom filters to the data which is being preserved, have a remote access to it and more.
In essence, the advantages of implementing CTMS include:
Cost savings
A good CTMS can guarantee a good financial performance. For example, thanks to a number of advanced functionalities, researchers involved get the option to estimate how much recourses the trial will require before its official initiation. Many financial management tools allow for easy monitoring of different incoming and outgoing payments too. Lastly, registry searchers minimize patient recruitment expenses.
Time efficacy
Money and time are two of the most critical aspects in clinical trials. On top of delivering cost-efficiency, as stated above, CTMSs can also save a lot of time. They reduce the manual effort when searching for potential trial participants by using integrated filters and preferences instead. They automatically select human subjects based on pre-set criteria (geographical occupation, age and so on). Moreover, there’s no need of spending hours in entering or searching for scientific data and documentation across different locations or archives.
Optimized operational capabilities and automation
On top of saving on time and money, CROs can also benefit from better operations and diverse functionalities. Professionals are given the opportunity to visualize, alter, remove and add on operational data whenever it is necessary. Furthermore, investigators and study teams can improve communication and exchange of crucial data through interactive data analysis options in a table and/or graphical representation format. When the stuff is located at different offices, the web-based functions of one such software grants them remote access to dashboards and data archives to track patients- and study-related data, apply changes and more.
In summary, for several years, innovative software products find their application in the pharmaceutical sector and the field of clinical research. Currently, clinical trial management systems are gaining significant popularity, which isn’t something unexpected. After all, this particular type of software products delivers a variety of advantages which modernize and enhance trial-based procedures ranging from searching potential participants, through tracking protocols, to monitoring the progress of a given study.
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