Mobile tech in clinical trials offers 'untapped potential,' says CEO

29-May-2017 - Last updated on 26-Jul-2017 at 14:38 GMT

Fueled by recent growth, mProve Health has moved into new offices in Washington, DC. (Image: mProve Health)

Patient-operated mobile technology will be demanded on all clinical trials, says mProve, as the industry undergoes an evolution and embraces digital health solutions.

The technology provider entered the market in 2010 with a mobile solution for clinical trial patient recruitment. Since then, the company has introduced mobile solutions for patient engagement and outcomes reporting, such as ePRO.

“There is a new generation of technology vendors needed to support today’s sponsors who are exploring modern approaches to clinical trials like ‘bring your own device’ (BYOD) models instead of provisioning devices and virtual, ‘site-less’ studies,” Jeff Lee, founder and CEO, of mProve told Outsourcing-Pharma.com.

“Entering the ePRO market with a solution that has all the capabilities needed to support modern clinical trials, is part of what’s driven rapid adoption of our solution,” he added.

In response to this demand, mProve Health has hired 16 new employees over the past year and has recently moved into new offices in the Washington DC metro area.

The mobile technology provider has also announced the addition of 25% more new pharmaceutical companies and contract research organizations (CROs) to its client base.

Untapped potential

When mProve first launched it found success in the CRO market and it continues to sell to many of the top 10 CROS, according to the company. However, Lee explained it has also seen an evolution among pharmaceutical companies: “today they embrace digital health solutions and have innovation teams charged with finding and implementing disruptive, patient-centric technologies,” he said.

Additionally, regulatory acceptance of technology – and its viability – continues to grow as vendors, pharma, and task forces such as TransCelerate and ISPOR, develop a stronger body of evidence for its role in clinical research.

“As this acceptance grows, and the industry sees evidence of the FDA’s approval of studies that used data captured by patients on their personal device, wearables, etc., we expect to see a shift from exploration and piloting to a demand for patient-operated mobile technology on all studies,” Lee concluded.