From phase 1 to phase 4 and post-market surveillance, clinical trials are a crucial part of a drug’s development and success. However, aspects such as participant retention, adherence, and data collection are notoriously complicated and difficult to manage. Read on to see how MyTherapy can act as a digital companion for clinical trial participants, helping mitigate many of the issues that can be detrimental to the success of trials.

3 Ways MyTherapy Can be the Ideal Clinical Trial Companion

We often refer to our MyTherapy platform as an operating system, as it can act as the foundation for a range of different uses. Here are three benefits of using MyTherapy as a digital clinical trial companion, helping support both those running the trial and those participating in it.

1. Prevent Dropouts with Faster Feedback

Patient retention is critical to the success of clinical trials at any stage. There are many reasons why patients might drop out, including side effects, a lack of noticeable improvement in their condition, or unmet expectations. In many cases, dropouts can be avoided if patients’ concerns are addressed quickly.

However, unless the patient actively communicated their issues, it can be impossible for those managing the trials to realize they exist. It might not be until the next scheduled check-up that patients air their concerns – by which point it might already be too late. Alternatively, patients might simply withdraw from the trial.

By using MyTherapy as a trial companion, the contract research organization (CRO) managing the trial can be alerted to changes in patients’ behavior, such as no longer confirming intakes. The CRO can contact patients and address concerns they may have. All of this can be done without delay, helping improve patient retention.

2. Support Adherence Among Trial Participants

Alongside patient dropouts, poor medication adherence can also be problematic during clinical trials and affect the reliability of the results.

MyTherapy has been shown to improve medication adherence in different patient populations, including people living with diabetes and kidney transplant recipients. Since those studies were conducted by Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, we have continued to develop MyTherapy to meet the daily needs of people taking regular medication.

Features such as medication reminders and educational content can help users manage their treatment, along with a ‘Team’ section that can be particularly useful for clinical trial participants.

The benefits MyTherapy offers to people taking regular medications are equally applicable to clinical trial participants. By offering MyTherapy as a digital companion, you can help improve adherence rates among participants and improve the quality and quantity of data generated throughout the course of a clinical trial.

3. Capture More Data with ePRO

In addition to improving retention rates and supporting adherence, MyTherapy can help you capture more data from clinical trial participants. Electronic Patient-Reported Outcome (ePRO) data can provide additional insight into topics such as efficacy and side effects.

Validated questionnaires can be pushed to clinical trial participants through MyTherapy. Furthermore, our experience in driving engagement helps us maximize response rates to such questionnaires.

Beyond questionnaires, electronic diaries can be used to gather information regarding symptoms, side effects, and well-being. Patient-reported well-being can even be a secondary endpoint in clinical trials, helping to understand how the treatment affects patients’ overall quality of life.

All of this can be built on features that already exist as part of the MyTherapy platform, making it the ideal trial companion almost out of the box.

Configure MyTherapy as a Clinical Trial Companion to Meet Your Needs

Of the three benefits listed above, some may be more important than others for your clinical trial. We, therefore, offer two levels of connectivity when it comes to using MyTherapy as a clinical trial companion.

Digital-Only Setup

The simpler and quicker option focuses on adherence support and data generation, with both of these aspects being fundamental components of the MyTherapy platform. This means that a lower level of custom configuration is required, with much of the effort focusing on your specific needs regarding topics such as content and reporting.

Connected Setup

To gain the added benefit of participant retention support, connectivity to CRO software is necessary to trigger alerts when possible dropouts are detected. This is a more complicated setup but can be the most valuable aspect of having a digital companion, particularly for clinical trials that are difficult to recruit for and where retention is of the utmost importance.

If you are interested in using MyTherapy as a digital companion for your clinical trial, book a meeting today to discuss your requirements.