Clinical trials are an essential component of bringing new, innovative medicines to market and answering complex questions about whether experimental treatments are safe and effective enough to prescribe to patients.
But the current model for clinical trials has some fundamental flaws that increasingly affect both patients and the entire health care system.
The cost and complexity of clinical trials has grown significantly over the last two decades. Trials can take six to seven years on average to conduct, and can cost anywhere from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dollars to complete. They’re also plagued by issues related to patient retention and recruitment: 80 percent of trials do not meet their projected timelines, largely due to recruitment issues, and 30 percent of recruited patients drop out.
The first concern about this type of app, is the countless number of devices that already have had problems with even the most simple data that are either missing or mis-used by the app developer, and is also a subscriber to a Pharma company who has received the data, and find the individuals who have received treatment for their respective health issues, and are then the same individuals who are denied receiving any treatments because of a “pre-existing condition.”
When we elect to have our personal health care issues on the internet, we are just giving these Pharma companies the opportunity to turn away the most significant individuals who are in dire need of a treatment modality that could actually provide them with a more quality of life experience. Then they are placing a target on their own selves to be omitted from the treatment protocol because as the author claims they are not able to provide the money for such a program; thus the very population that is the reason stated that this is the most significant reason for why the companies want to provide this opportunity, and one has to wonder why? The author states that they are in need of more funding to provide the best clinical trials to the same people who are already probably not considered as a clinical trial responder, because they are not going to provide the company with a profit margin of success. I am also more than suspicious of what those same individuals are then chosen for the non treatment group that would provide the company with a professional clinical trial experience, that begs the question, of which group they are chosen to be a part of the trial group.
Finally, we are allowing our personal health issues to appear on the internet, and we are all aware of how “safe,” the information is when on the internet.
We have so many different ways to get our transportation issues resolved before we go through this rather unknown modality for our health care experience. I don’t think so; and how is the HIPPAA law compromised with this type of clinical trial? I would personally never agree to be a patient in this manner.
Potential for telemedicine?
Hi David – Absolutely – telemedicine will be a critical component of a decentralized model. Shortly, I will be sharing some interesting work we just completed at Novartis working with Medgate–one of the largest telemedicine providers in the EU. It would be great to connect on LinkedIn