Honoring patient altruism: empowering clinical trial participants with better technology

Author: Daniela Duffett, Senior Solutions Consultant, Suvoda 

Snapshot:

• Patients join trials to help others: In a study, 46% of participants signed up to find cures for others, whereas only 28% joined for their own treatment.¹ 

• Bad technology can waste patient generosity: Disjointed technology means patients waste time on navigation instead of focusing on their altruistic goals. 
• Intuitive platforms honor patient contributions: Unifying software that handles consent, health outcomes reporting, travel, and payments can reduce barriers for patients who are already using their time to help others. 
  
   

Clinical trial participants make an extraordinary commitment. They often follow strict protocols and spend many hours in clinic visits—not only for their own benefit, but to help future patients they may never meet. 

A study published in JAMA Network Open revealed unexpected data about patient motivation for participating in oncology clinical trials: 46% of participants joined the studies to help find cures for others, while only 28% are primarily motivated by treating their own conditions. ¹ 

To me, this patient altruism creates a sense of responsibility for those creating or purchasing clinical trial technology. Patients are already carrying a heavy burden as they focus on their health and wellbeing. I think it’s incumbent upon us as technology innovators to create—and sponsors and CROs to select—clinical trial tools and systems that can make patients’ experiences as easy as possible. 

Technology fragmentation creates unnecessary burden  

Some trials require participants to manage an array of disconnected systems. As one trial participant described, 

“For a single study, I had to interact with so many different apps and programs: one for completing surveys, one for payments, phone calls for appointment scheduling, and something else for signing consent.”

- Trial Participant​
Patient Experience Research
conducted by Suvoda (2022)

This complicated journey can undermine a trial participant’s ability to participate or to provide timely, accurate health outcomes information. Additionally, clinical trial teams may miss opportunities to capture the data that could accelerate medical discoveries.

The cost of patient dropout 

The impact of fragmented clinical trial systems can extend beyond patient frustration and may impact patient retention in trials. Clinical trials that are terminated due to low recruitment or enrollment can cost sponsors millions and delay or derail potentially life-saving treatments. Some studies have shown that 55% of trials were terminated due to missing enrollment targets, and the average cost to recruit a single study participant stands at $6,533.^2,3  

Critically, when participants drop out or when trials fail to meet their enrollment, CROs, sites, and sponsors lose valuable data that could have led to breakthrough treatments.  

Patient-centric technology can drive medical innovation 

Patient-centric technology design can make participants’ lives easier, hopefully leading to patients enrolling and staying in trials, which can in turn support medical innovation. We are seeing this in enrollment data, for example: according to The Economist Intelligence Unit's analysis, patient-centric trials achieve full enrollment in just 4 months versus 7 months for traditional trials.⁴
Consider these other examples: 

1. Real-time, connected data can support better patient experiences  
   When eClinical solutions are unified like on the Suvoda Platform, their real-time, shared data layer can ease the patient experience throughout the trial. For example, when eCOA and patient payments are connected, when a patient fills out a questionnaire, they could automatically receive a micro-payment. Or when eCOA and IRT are joined, patient-reported data that’s collected in eCOA can directly inform a patient’s eligibility status for randomization.   
    
2. Electronic data collection advances precision medicine 
   When patients can submit their quality-of-life data or other outcomes between visits from the comfort of their homes using solutions like eCOA, the data can reflect a more accurate picture of their experiences and reduce the pressures (and potential errors) that can come when filling out questionnaires after time has passed. This information could provide improved insights into drug effectiveness. 
   
   
3. Simplified engagement can improve data quality 
   Intuitive digital tools can reduce patient cognitive load and ease the patient experience, potentially leading to more accurate and complete data collection. Trials benefit from higher quality data because it can mean more reliable results, faster regulatory approvals, and ultimately, life-changing treatments reaching patients sooner. 
   
   

Turn patient altruism into medical progress 

Patients who join clinical trials are helping to drive medical progress. They deserve technology that maximizes the value of their contributions by simplifying their experience and accelerating the discovery of treatments that will help others facing similar conditions. 

Every complex login, every disconnected system, every navigation challenge patients encounter is a barrier to the generosity that drives medical breakthroughs. When we honor patient altruism with easy-to-use, unified technology platforms like the Suvoda Platform, we help support faster enrollment, lower costs, and hopefully more successful trials with patients who stay engaged for the duration.  

I’m glad to see our industry prioritizing clinical trial technology that can respond to the true needs of trial patients and the urgency of medical discovery—and I’m proud to be part of a team that contributes to these advancements. 

Author