The Association of Clinical Research Organizations (ACRO) rolled out a new element to its toolkit for decentralized clinical trials as part of the trade group’s efforts to speed adoption of digital and hybrid approaches.
The toolkit—dubbed Navigating Change During Rapid Transformation—employs a question-and-answer format that addresses stakeholder hesitance regarding decentralized clinical trials as digital alternatives to traditional methods, the group said in an Oct. 18 press release.
Decentralized clinical trials, which exploded in response to restrictions imposed at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, are expected to become the new normal in how trials are conducted. This became more evident in the last year as the invasion of Ukraine disrupted clinical trials there and through parts of eastern Europe.
“The industry has evolved to offer increasingly sophisticated tools and controls to help protect patient safety and safeguard data integrity in decentralized trials,” Jim Streeter, Oracle’s global vice president of life science customer success, said in the release. “Yet, expanded adoption of DCTs is impossible if stakeholders are not ready and comfortable in embracing this paradigm shift in clinical research.”
It’s not the only work released by ACRO, a trade group made up of CROs and providers, in recent months. The organization announced in August a four-point plan to make clinical trials and their own workforces more diverse.