March 20, 2018 | The 2018 Summit for Clinical Ops Professionals—SCOPE—is always a packed program, and this year was no different. Now several weeks out from the event, we’re collecting the summaries we’ve found so far. Clinical Informatics News’ coverage isn’t completed—we will still profile awards winners in the coming months—but here’s a summary of the latest to come from SCOPE 2018. – the Editors

Digital Engagement & The Future Of Clinical Trials

It’s time we start hacking clinical trials, said Shwen Gwee, head of digital strategy and global clinical operations at Biogen. He described the MIT Hacking Medicine approach: break it down, build it up, and put it back together. It's a fitting model for clinical trials as well. Gwee encouraged the SCOPE community to shoot for the "minimum viable product", not wait for what we consider a final product. The problem with the clinical trials industry is that we tend to launch and wait, he said. Instead we need to think in iterative cycles.

Survey Says: Patients Willing, Investigators Warning Of Mobile Trial Opportunities And Challenges

The Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative (CTTI) conducted a survey of potential research participants as part of its Mobile Clinical Trials program. The results are in. Trial participants are enthusiastic about mobile trials, and challenges for sites and investigators are being better defined and addressed.

What GlaxoSmithKline Learned From Their Digital Trial of Rheumatoid Arthritis

Patients say they would rather participate in a mobile or digital clinical trial than a more traditional site-based trial, but getting a mobile trial to work has proven more complicated. Michelle Crouthamel of GlaxoSmithKline shares what she’s learning about apps, retention, and what happened with the company’s PARADE study.

Pain Points for Clinical Trials Sites Abound In Systems And Devices

Clinical trial sponsors often rave about the data they collect from mobile devices, but along the way clinical trial sites are drowning in devices, systems, and charging cords.

Clinical Informatics News Announces Best Practices Awards Winners

We’ll dig deeper into the winning Best Practices entries in the coming months, but at SCOPE, Clinical Informatics News announced three winners from nine finalists. In the Clinical Data Intelligence category, IQVIA took top honors for the IQVIA Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) initiative. In the Study Startup And Design category, CRF Health was recognized for TrialConsent, an eConsent and eCOA hybrid technology to support data management and mitigate risk. And in the Patient Data Management category, Bioclinica won for Bioclinica SMART, transformational medical imaging in clinical trials.

News And Product Launches At SCOPE 2018

We collected new products and company announcements across the Expo Hall floor. With so many exhibitors, we may have missed something, but we recorded news and notes from MDCPartners, TriNetX, Bracket, Certara, Clinerion, HealthCarePoint, and Strategikon Pharma. 

TransCelerate Launches “One Person Closer” Campaign To Inspire Clinical Trial Participation

TransCelerate launched a campaign to inspire healthcare professionals to share with their patients the potential and possibilities of participating in clinical trials. The campaign, “One Person Closer,” is taking a direct approach, using social media and video vignettes to share the personal stories of researchers, HCPs, and patients who have contributed to clinical research. The campaign reflects a shift in the clinical trial industry’s mindset in how it manages patient engagement.

Links from Elsewhere

Of course Clinical Informatics News wasn’t the only one taking notes during the conference. Several exhibitors, sponsors, and attendees blogged about their time at SCOPE, gathering their thoughts on various topics. We particularly appreciated blogs from: 

Barbara Zupancic at Worldwide Clinical Trials, focusing on patient engagement in Part 1 and Part 2.

Joe Dustin, at Medidata, reported on his first SCOPE event. He shares what he learned about eConsent from a Medidata and IQVIA roundtable.

Abhay Jha, Venkat Sethuraman, and Qin Ye reported for the ZS team. They highlighted SCOPE’s growth, the transition of the industry, and where the wins have been for pharma.

For Oracle, Greg Jones pulled out several themes he saw across the different tracks and sessions. Among those: patient centricity, real world data/real world evidence, wearable devices/mHealth, Blockchain, and AI/machine learning.

The Antidote team had a great event, as evidenced by their CEO, Pablo Graiver’s comment: “SCOPE once again confirmed that it is a must-go conference.” They shared the work of Nina Beaty, an artist and small-cell lung cancer survivor. Nina designed special emojis that give patients a new way to express what it’s like to contend with cancer.

Karen Renzi summarized the event for Praxis, highlighting some of the progress they’ve seen as SCOPE has progressed. Sponsors are making good on their promises to implement the patient perspective, she observed, and data-driven patient recruitment has found its stride.