Can Technology Solve Pharma’s Biggest Problem?
The clinical trial industry has steadily adopted technology to improve and accelerate clinical trials. A recent industry report noted that contract research organizations (CROs) reported 93% electronic data capture (EDC) technology adoption and 70% for clinical trial management systems (CTMS) technology.1 At the same time, adoption of study start up technology lags, with only 35% of CROs reporting adoption in this area. Pitchbook analyst Kaia Colban estimates that the most significant clinical trials-related opportunity for startups is the $3.2 billion recruitment and retention market, which Roots Analysis forecasts to grow to $5.3 billion by 2034.2
Patient recruitment is widely recognized as the bottleneck in the study start up process, and there is an unmet need for technologies that reduce friction and improve the pace and predictability of the recruitment process. While adoption of EDC and CTMS technologies focuses on study data, there is a need for technology focused on managing the people participating in clinical trials. Clinical trial sites have near complete contr