Virtual Clinical Trials – An approach whose time has come

The COVID-19 pandemic will surely go down as a major event of the century and an event that will leave a long-lasting impression on our way of living and working.

- Suneela Thatte

When the year 2020 began, little did anyone imagine how the lives of people across the globe would change, irrespective of which country they belonged to, whether they were living in a rural or urban setting, whether unemployed, self-employed or employed with an organization, and irrespective of gender or age. We have gone through so much in the last six months but contrary to our initial fears and impression, not everything that came with the pandemic has been bad.

The pandemic has defined new paradigms of doing business shaped by remote working, enabled by technology and facilitated by skills that call for a more collaborative and empathetic approach to work. Restrictions imposed by the lockdown in India saw the growth of remote approaches to healthcare treatment like online consultation and telemedicine.

The government of India released the updated telemedicine practice guidelines in March, which recognizes that digital health is a critical enabler for the overall transformation of the health system and enables registered medical practitioners to provide healthcare using telemedicine.

Most important and relevant to our field has been the increase in awareness about clinical trials. Public opinion has tilted largely in favour of clinical trials and the narrative has changed from ‘Do we need clinical trials?’ to ‘Why are we not seeing more trials on drugs and vaccines for COVID-19?’ and ‘When will a vaccine for COVID-19 be available’?