How Modern Technology is Impacting Clinical Trials & Keeping Us Healthier

Medicine ⯀  

Medical technology has made amazing strides over the last 30 years. Though much focus is placed on the role of technology in surgical intervention and treatment, improved technology has also had a huge impact on clinical trials. Here are four of the ways that technological advances have helped improve clinical trials, thus promoting better health all around.

More Streamlined Testing

At one time, clinical trials stood on their own as a means of testing the efficacy of a new drug or medical device. With the digital age, however, computer modeling has worked its way into clinical trials. Computer simulations can sometimes identify potential problems before a trial is even conducted, thus making trials more productive and safer.

Better Data Analysis

Medicine has been one of the areas in which the rise of data analytics has had the greatest impact. Clinical trials are no exception to this. By using advanced analytical techniques, medical analysts can draw better and more accurate conclusions about the efficacy and potential side effects of a new drug from the results of a clinical trial. This, in turn, allows pharmaceutical companies to provide more complete information about new drugs to prescribing physicians and their patients.

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Enhanced Safety

Across the medical world, technological advances have been used to increase patient safety and prevent contamination of samples, medicines and devices. The latter function is especially important in clinical trials, where contamination of samples could result in compromised data. Fortunately, today’s biological storage systems are very advanced, offering protection against external contaminants and state-of-the-art inventory systems that let hospitals conducting trials keep close track of their samples.

Faster Device Iteration

Most people think of clinical trials only in terms of pharmaceuticals, but new medical devices also undergo extensive testing. In earlier phases, however, those devices may have to go through multiple iterations before they’re ready to progress to clinical trials. Thanks to the combination of computer modeling and 3D printing, engineers can design and iterate several different versions of a device quickly, allowing them to bring new medical devices to the clinical trial phase on a shorter timetable.

These are just some of the ways that technology is improving clinical trials and in turn leading to better health. As medical technology continues to progress, it is likely that it will find its way into even more areas of testing to speed up the process and improve patient outcomes.

By  Hannah Whittenly	Embed
Author Bio - Hannah Whittenly is a freelance writer and mother of two from Sacramento, California.