Technological advancements have facilitated the advent of digital solutions across all walks of life, including healthcare, making essential services accessible and affordable for everyone, regardless of location. VirTrial is one such company that is breaking down the barriers to telemedicine in the clinical trials space through their state-of-the-art solutions.
Guided by a team of leading experts in the field of clinical research, VirTrial is at the forefront of hybrid decentralized clinical trials (DCT) and virtual site monitoring. With a comprehensive understanding of the effective management of clinical trials, VirTrial has an edge over its competitors, especially in terms of identifying favorable opportunities and addressing unforeseen issues with dexterity.
Pharmaceutical companies face obstacles in cost-effectiveness and speed when it comes to clinical trials, such as site selection, site monitoring, and accessibility to patient populations. Through hybrid DCTs powered by VirTrial’s platform and Virtual Site Monitoring, VirTrial provides innovative and unique virtual solutions, that help steer CROs and pharmaceutical sponsors to technological solutions during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
As quoted by the CEO of VirTrial, Mark Hanley, “Clinical research sites are in the midst of a momentous technology transition into the arena of DCTs and virtual site monitoring. VirTrial is working to ensure the process is seamless by providing training and easy to use solutions for sites, and providing collaboration with CROs and sponsors to develop modern protocols.”
Awarded the MedTech Breakthrough award in 2019 and 2020, VirTrial has achieved acclaim for its unique approach in the market through distinct features and offerings, which include:
- A BYOD (bring your own device) model that is compatible across multiple devices and OS, including participants’ devices (Android, Apple, phone, tablet, computer).
- Facilitation of global accessibility, that enhances flexibility for all parties involved, including pharmaceutical companies, patients, and clinical sites.
- An intuitive user experience designed by industry professionals.
- Stringent protocols that are certified via 3rd party audit of HIPAA, SOC II, and HiTrust compliance, and are hosted in a secure, cloud-based environment, that is compliant with HIPAA and GDPR regulations.
- Virtual Site Monitoring that offers a global, scalable solution for CRAs performing site monitoring. This virtual platform eliminates the requirement of travel and improves pre-site selection processes by allowing up to 6-way video calling, and enabling multilingual compatibility.
- The solutions also enable pharmaceutical companies to run hybrid decentralized clinical trials, using clinical site networks of their preference.
Enabled by the platform’s ability to support hybrid trials, VirTrial’s goal is to substitute 25 to 50 percent of conventional clinical trial visits with virtual visits, especially in Phase III and IV trials. This supports the company’s belief that research sites should remain the central focus of clinical trials.
In regard to Virtual Site Monitoring, the first-of-its-kind solution is an evolution of conventional remote monitoring systems, which are generally limited to document validation and management. Virtual site monitoring enables a zero-touch process where the Clinical Research Associate (CRA) virtually visits research sites through a live, HD-video that is securely streamed onto the CRA’s laptop by a set of high-tech eyeglasses donned by the site coordinator in their facility.
This modern system eradicates the burden of hectic travel schedules and expedites the traditionally time-consuming processes of site selection (SSV), site initiation (SIV), interim monitoring (IMV), and close-out visits (COV). This new option is attractive to CROs and trial sponsors to curb the current challenges of travel restrictions and social distance requirements. In addition, the time and cost savings are immense.
In addition to these systems, the VirTrial platform’s navigation and workflows were exclusively designed to cater to the clinical trial industry. The platform invigorates the adoption of hybrid DCTs through an ever-evolving agile technology approach, an open API that facilitates interoperability, and its unique ability to operate on any device (Android, Apple, phone, tablet, computer).
VirTrial’s platform has received acclaim for its progressive technology, ease of use, site-centric approach, and global scalability.
The intuitive user interface encourages patients to access clinical trials virtually, diminishing the burden of travel and positively reinforcing clinical trial efficiency and a continuation of their on-site experience with their physician. Not only does the platform provide safe access to patients, but aids CROs and pharmaceutical sponsors to introduce revolutionary medicines into the market at an accelerated rate.
The VirTrial platform is scalable globally, as it can be accessed by any clinical research site, worldwide. The simplicity of the interface and its ease of use make it a favorable choice for patients and sites alike. Through the integration of regularly updated, encrypted audio-visual tools, VirTrial’s platform creates a secure virtual environment to address patients throughout their trial experience.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the emergence of new challenges for the healthcare and clinical research industry. With mounting pressure to find an effective treatment or vaccine for the coronavirus, the entire medical community was pushed to the forefront of care and research. On the research side, pharmaceutical companies scrambled to establish online trials as limitations were imposed on travel, site accessibility, and group gatherings. The mission to adapt protocols to address the new normal and initiate new trials was daunting.
To address this obstacle, VirTrial is partnering with sponsors and CROs to provide its Virtual Site Monitoring™ solution to get trials back on track by enabling CRAs to virtually access sites to qualify them and train them for COVID-19 study protocols.
With the vast experience and professional guidance of it’s management team, VirTrial continues to consistently enhance its technology, team with industry associations, and provide free training for sites worldwide. VirTrial’s plans for the future include expanding its solutions and services and partnering with tertiary solution providers to support a holistic approach across the care continuum within the virtual clinical trials industry.