New Study: Decentralized Clinical Trials Can Achieve Net Financial Benefits of 5X to 14X, Due to Reduced Trial Timelines and Other Factors

Medable Inc., the leading cloud platform for patient-centered drug development, today announced results from a Tufts CSDD analysis which shows that, on average, decentralized clinical trials (DCTs) are associated with reduced clinical trial timelines and can achieve net financial benefits ranging from five to 14 times for Phase II and Phase III trials, respectively. The findings are based on financial modeling and analysis of trial data from the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development (CSDD), Tufts University School of Medicine, and more than 150 clinical trials enabled by Medable software.

“Our investigation found that, on average, the financial returns to drug sponsors from shorter development times, lower clinical trial screen failure rates, and fewer clinical trial protocol amendments associated with DCTs substantially exceeded the costs of investing in DCT technologies,” said Joseph DiMasi, director of economic analysis at Tufts CSDD.

The analysis includes the following key findings:

• Net financial benefit: In phase II studies, the typical DCT deployment for a clinical trial resulting in a one to three month time savings yields a net benefit that is up to five times greater than the upfront investment required. In phase III studies, a similar time savings yields a net benefit that is up to 14 times greater than the upfront investment required.
• Shorter clinical trial times: Cycle time reductions associated with DCT deployments had a substantially greater impact on net financial benefits than any other factor. Nearly 85 percent of all clinical trials will experience some sort of delay, with the financial impact of $600,000 to $8 million per day of delay. Faster trial completion through decentralized methodologies can drive significant cost savings.
• Lower screening failure rates: Less than 5 percent of the U.S. population participates in clinical research, and up to 50 percent of trials are not completed because of insufficient enrollment. DCTs shift the paradigm to enable greater patient participation, reduced time and travel burden, faster screening, more convenient consent and enrollment, and in some cases, remote delivery of an intervention and the measurement of outcomes.
• Fewer protocol amendments: Protocol amendments often cause delays and dramatically increase the costs of developing new therapies. The potential for fewer research sites in a DCT leads to fewer institutional review boards and a corresponding reduction in regulatory costs and increased flexibility around protocol changes.

High-level findings of the analysis were published today. The researchers will submit a more detailed paper for publication later this year, detailing how Tufts CSDD calculated net financial benefits as well as additional details on the assumptions and calculations used in the analysis. The study is one of the first to provide quantifiable evidence for the value of DCTs.

“Drug development is overly complex, expensive and time-consuming, delaying access to new medical products and safe and effective treatments becoming available to patients,” said Dr. Pamela Tenaerts, Chief Scientific Officer at Medable. “We must reverse these trends and use funds efficiently and effectively to improve evidence generation in drug development, thereby helping to improve patient lives. Decentralized trials are an increasingly important and evolving part of this landscape. We trust that these findings and future research on DCT implementation will help promote more innovation; decreasing the cost and increasing the pace of drug discovery.”

“Medable was founded to create a more equitable system for medical research, to make trials more accessible and inclusive, and to solve systemic challenges inherent in modern clinical trials,” said Dr. Michelle Longmire, CEO of Medable. “By showcasing the net benefits for drug developers and patients, this research validates decentralized trials as a critical innovation on the path to enabling effective therapies to reach patients faster.”

In addition to the Tufts CSDD high level findings, Medable also published its annual “Medable Matters: 2021 Impact Report”, detailing the company’s progress, learnings and insights from 2021. Click here for the detailed report.

About Medable

Medable is on a mission to get effective therapies to patients faster by transforming clinical drug development with disruptive technologies. The company’s digital platform streamlines design, recruitment, retention and data quality for decentralized trials, replacing siloed systems with integrated digital tools, data and interfaces to accelerate trial execution. Medable connects patients, sites and clinical trial teams to improve patient access, experience, and outcomes. Medable is a privately held, venture-backed company headquartered in Palo Alto, California.

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@medableinc today announced a new @TuftsCSDD analysis showing that, on average, decentralized #clinicaltrials are associated with reduced trial timelines and can achieve net financial benefits from 5X to 14X #pharma #biotech