Why Choosing Fit-for-Purpose Technology is Crucial for CROs
Contract Research Organizations (CROs) play a key role in supporting biopharmaceutical companies with clinical trials.
However, with increasingly tight timelines, complex protocols, and budgetary constraints, CROs are under pressure. That’s why choosing the right technology and tools to design, manage, monitor, and analyze your studies, like Interactive Response Technology (IRT) / Randomization and Trial Supply Management (RTSM) systems, is essential to shorten and simplify processes.
In this article, we will explore the challenges facing CROs, how they can find the right technology partner, the support they can expect from a technology vendor, and how the right technology can help them stay on track with trial timelines.
What challenges are CROs facing?
CROs face many of the same challenges that trial investigators and sponsors encounter themselves.
Hurdles such as navigating the web of regulatory obligations, protecting participant data against unauthorized access, and dealing with complex protocols are constant obstacles that are only compounded by the tight timelines and budgets within which CROs work.
When using clinical trial technologies, common challenges include ensuring seamless integration of several systems, regional localization, and finding user-friendly and time-efficient solutions.
These important issues make finding the right technology partner essential for CROs to excel in supporting successful clinical trials. So how does one identify the right vendor?
Finding an ally
The most effective technology vendors don’t just sell a product—they offer complete, end-to-end support.
Providers offering a software-as-a-service (SaaS) style product can often leave you to ‘go it alone’ with implementation and troubleshooting, which only opens the door to a higher risk of errors, disruption, and delays.
A strong technology partner will offer much more than merely a product—they’ll provide an integrated service that includes not only seamless system integration but is augmented by a dedicated, highly experienced team, with therapeutic area expertise, and knowledge of the clinical trial process. By working with a dedicated team that aligns with your communication plan, your ways of working & who can streamline processes, your effort can be reduced and goals supported.
By choosing a vendor that offers holistic support for the life of the trial, along with a technology product, CROs can optimize their studies and ensure crucial milestones are effectively met, even when inevitable emergencies occur.
How Perceptive eClinical supports CROs
Perceptive eClinical offers end-to-end assistance through a single team, working as an extension of your team to meet your study requirements.
Our experienced team of specialists brings expertise across all elements of clinical trials, from trial supplies to statistical design. After taking the time to analyze and gain a deep understanding of your protocol requirements, we’ll craft a tailored strategy that adapts to your needs as your study evolves.
By working with us for your clinical trials, you’ll be supported by consultants who are well-versed in working with a variety of protocol designs covering every therapeutic area. Drawing on decades of experience, our team will help you identify and mitigate risks, plan for future needs, and create a proactive, adaptable approach for your trials.
How can CROs use technology to hit timelines?
Technologies like IRT/RTSM systems can help you meet timelines in clinical trials by automating various aspects of clinical trial execution, participant randomization, and automatic site resupply that you’d expect from an RTSM system.
Further time-saving advantages of the technology include the ability to automatically facilitate the coordination of global clinical trial supplies, ensuring that materials are shipped to the right locations at the right times, which is especially important for multinational trials. Perceptive’s RTSM offers dynamic site resupply, automatically optimizing what’s sent to the site based on changing factors such as recruitment rate.
Our RTSM experts will assess the needs of the protocol, plus any supply and operational risks, designing a future-proof system with the ability to make immediate changes as & when needed – from something common such as adding new countries to respond to recruitment delays, to adding new doses for new cohorts or closing treatment arms following a safety review. Our IRT will perform many essential tasks automatically in the background, like maintaining the blind and resupplying sites, but also provides the ability for you to quickly manage known tasks and respond to emergencies.
IRT/RTSM systems from Perceptive eClinical—backed by our experienced team of specialized clinical trial consultants—will help you minimize delays, reduce errors, and complete clinical trials on time and within budget.
Discover how we can help you overcome the challenges of your next clinical trial today by getting in touch with a Perceptive eClinical Solutions Specialist, or click here to learn more about our IRT/RTSM solutions.
