Sponsoring clinical trials is integral but not an easy task to do. With the lack of enough resources, researchers are looking for alternatives which will help them reach to a bigger group of people that can help them financially. Their help is important as absence of resources quite often is the reason for a trial failure. In order to fight this sort of difficulties and challenges that stand between the start and the end of clinical projects, researchers are constantly trying to find alternative methods for gaining resources. Crowdfunding is turning out to be one such solution which has gained immense recognition in the last couple of years.
Precisely, crowdfunding represents an online way of receiving funds that are sent right from the public. It is the people who decide how much money to invest in a project so that they can contribute to the efforts of a group of people or an individual. Moreover, this newly born phenomenonincorporates the notion thatinstead of large investments there are many small donations that can be made by everyone. After that, the gathered sum of money is invested in one particular project or another. Most importantly, people know how much money is required for the completion of the project at the very beginning. In case when the required money is not collected, the whole project fails to be realized. Getting more and more popular in recent years, even the Pharmaceutical industry is trying to benefit from this tendency which circles around the online space. Some of the medical research crowdfunding websites are: Cancer Research UK and Consano.
The benefits of crowdfunding for clinical trials are:
- Increased Public Interaction – Crowdfunding enables researchers to create close relationships with donors and can engage with thousands of people worldwide.
- Easiness – Crowdfunding is usually distributed through online platforms which allow more people to find out about the goals of the research campaign. As a result, they will be able to contribute financially as much as they can.
- Cost-effectiveness – Using crowdfunding platforms promises cost-effectiveness in terms of finding donors and people who are ready to support the trial.
Lastly, when researchers seek to gain not only public awareness but financial support as well, they start searching and embracing a myriad of opportunities. Websites that work similarly to Kickstarter are there to help the Pharmaceutical industry receive the needed resources in order to turn a project into reality. With all of this being said, crowdfunding really has a potential to benefit clinical trials immensely.
Comments