“The only constant in life is change.” – Heraclitus
This quote has never been more true or more relevant to clinical research. The COVID-19 pandemic has motivated proactive and reactive changes across the R&D spectrum that impact research teams, site staff and trial participants. It has forced the industry to think outside the box and work in new and different ways. As a result, it is increasing the pressure on technology to support these new demands and provide a solution that effectively balances cost with both functionality and flexibility.
For example, as sponsors adapt to this new and rapidly changing environment, there is a renewed emphasis on the ability to gather data remotely. Many trial teams are still working remotely. Site staff are also dealing with the challenges of new and smaller occupancy limits across facilities. And patients are learning how to participate in telemedicine appointments with their medical care teams. In this manner, the pandemic has created some new limitations, but it has also forced us to go beyond old limitations. Remote activities, regardless of the role, are now accepted and expected practices.
Enabling technologies used in clinical research must keep pace to address continuing needs as well as rapidly emerging new requirements. These dual priorities put pressure on technology providers. On one hand, products must deliver core capabilities and on the other, they must be flexible enough to enable shifting, ambiguous, and evolving capabilities. Striking the optimal balance also has the potential to deliver efficiency, both in terms of cost and speed – two factors always critical to any clinical trial.
This is the exact scenario the Mednet team uses to define our product strategy. We understand the need to provide a comprehensive set of core capabilities to meet the needs of a wide range of clinical trials. Mednet’s comprehensive platform includes Randomization, Inventory Management, Adjudication, ePRO and Payments modules. These modules are built native to the platform, enabling research teams to access them quickly and easily, offering clinical trial teams everything they need to move quickly and efficiently. User can randomize with ease, simplify inventory management, ensure coding consistency, streamline the clinical adjudication process and more.
Mednet also recognizes the industry is evolving rapidly, with advances in science and new data sources increasing the complexity of study designs that demand new technologies. Mednet’s API also enables research organizations to quickly and easily integrate a variety of technologies to address these new and evolving requirements. The approach is designed to strike an optimal balance of providing a comprehensive feature set to address the requirements of most study designs, while also providing significant flexibility to address emerging and varying demands, including integrating with CTMS, Analytics, Reporting, eConsent technologies and more.
We believe this dual approach aligns with the market’s need for broad flexibility and deep functionality. It presents the opportunity for clinical research teams to meet evolving needs while simultaneously being able to easily take advantage of powerful and comprehensive core capabilities. The approach is uniquely designed to achieve the best of both worlds.
Heraclitus may not have been thinking about clinical research when he commented on the constancy of change. But his quote has been incredibly pertinent to our industry – particularly today – and it appears to be applicable for the foreseeable future.
As sponsors and CROs continue to face the challenges of evolving clinical trials, Mednet will continue to provide technology solutions that offer the flexibility and functionality needed in the constantly changing field of clinical research. We’ll continue to build on the recent progress necessitated by the pandemic, use it as a springboard, and position our customers for success – today and in the future.
To learn about Mednet’s comprehensive solution set and integration strategy, please contact us.