The global virtual clinical trials market size is expected to reach USD 13.78 billion by 2027 according to a new study by Polaris Market Research. The report gives a detailed insight into current market dynamics and provides analysis on future market growth.
The report is titled: ‘Virtual Clinical Trials Market Share, Size, Trends, Industry Analysis Report, By Design (Observational Trials, Interventional Trials, Expanded Access Trials), By Indication (CNS, Autoimmune/Inflammation, Cardiovascular Disease, Metabolic/Endocrinology, Infectious Disease, Oncology, Genitourinary, Ophthalmology), By Phases (Phase I, Phase II, Phase III, Phase IV), By Regions; Segment Forecast, 2020 –20272’.
Virtual Clinical Trials (VCT) are a new method of directing clinical trials which is inclusive of web platforms (informed consent, recruitment, adverse reactions, counseling and measurement of endpoints) and taking advantage of technology such as monitoring devices, apps and others. VCT also allows participant to be home-based at all clinical trial stage. VCT are operationally feasible and have lower drop-out rates, higher recruitment rates, better compliance and are faster than traditional method.
The growth of virtual clinical trials is mainly owing to the advantages offered by these trials in place of traditional clinical trials. The cost of development of a new drug estimates more than a 2 billion dollars and approximately two-third of the total cost is consumed in clinical testing phase. Moreover, delay in clinical trials is majorly caused by patient recruitment resulting in loss of revenue of millions of dollars per day for the pharmaceutical companies.
Furthermore, participant drop out is another major challenge faced in the clinical testing. To overcome these challenges major healthcare and pharmaceutical companies and organizations are constantly aiming on adopting new technology by investing in virtual clinical trial solutions, which is expected to escalate the overall market on a global level.
The prominent factors favoring the global market growth include scarcity of time in traditional clinical trials, rising R&D for the development of new drugs and vaccines, adoption of telemedicine and increasing demand for patient diversity. Additionally, COVID-19 pandemic has led to upsurge virtual clinical trials given the trials need to be conducted digitally. Thereby, companies all around the globe are aiming on developing virtual trial technologies to meet the growing demand for solutions to fight COVID-19.
For instance, in June 2020, TRHC (Tabula Rasa HealthCare), developer of healthcare software solutions, announced its partnership with Regence BlueShield, a health plan provider, for conducting virtual trials for different drug candidates, and to examine the ADEs (adverse drug events) in each.
Market participants such as LEO Innovation Lab, Covance, CRF Health, Oracle, Oracle, Medable, Parexel International, Clinical Ink, PRA Health Sciences, Science 37 and ICON, are some of the key players operating in the global market.
Players in the market are strategizing on developing new virtual clinical trial technology to cope up with the augmenting healthcare industry and thereby, establish their market place.
For instance, in May 2020, AiCure LLC, an advanced data analytics and artificial intelligence company, partnered with Science 37, a clinical research company, to leverage a decentralized research model for enabling home based clinical trial for assessing an experimental drug for major depression disorder (MDD).
